It Takes Two
by jd2009
Summary: Lorelai had twins-Rory and a daughter who was more like her and Christopher. Lorelai raised Rory while Christopher raised her twin. When Rory starts Chilton, her twin is in her class. AU starting in season one.
1. Victoria Hayden

_A/N: I've seen a lot of stories where Rory is a twin and decided to write one. This starts in season one. It will follow the storyline from the show at times and be different at other times - AU. Any differences from canon are intentional. That said, I tried to keep the characters in character. The main characters will be Lorelai, Rory, Christopher, and Victoria (Rory's twin), but most of the characters from the show will appear. _

_I wanted to write a story where Lorelai had a more rebellious child. Lorelai was lucky. Rory was always really good until college._

_I have several chapters written and ideas to continue this story through high school graduation. Please let me know if you think I should continue this. If you have any questions, let me know. Enjoy!_

Chapter One: Victoria Hayden

"Hey." Victoria greeted her friends with a friendly smile as she entered her locker combination.

She'd known Louise and Madeline since they were little. They'd been in the same pre-school, the same ballet class, and gone to the same summer camp.

Paris looked over at Victoria. "You're late."

Victoria looked at her watch and rolled her eyes. She was fifteen minutes early. "I'm not late."

"The first bell already rang," Paris told her. "You missed the new girl. She's in the headmaster's office now. Since you're late, you can get her file from the office."

"Can I, really?" Victoria feigned excitement. "Why don't you do it? What, are you scared?"

She didn't really mind getting the file from the office. She didn't think she'd get caught, and, if she did, her dad wouldn't be mad. Plus, she liked the adrenaline rush.

She just didn't like being told what to do by anyone, especially Paris. Paris was bossy, and Victoria wanted her to know that she wasn't going to take orders from her.

She probably would steal the file, but she didn't want Paris to know that. Yet.

"If I get caught, it will go on my permanent record and I'll never get into Harvard. You don't even want to go to an Ivy League school. You want to go to school in California." Paris made it sound like anyone who didn't want to go to an Ivy League school was crazy.

Victoria shut her locker and turned to look at Paris. "It's not like USC is a community college, Paris. It's just closer to the beach." She flicked her hair. "And I like California boys."

"California boys are hot," Madeline said and Louise nodded in agreement.

Paris stared at Victoria. "How do you know you like California boys? You only lived in California for a year and you were fifteen."

"Is there some rule against dating when you're fifteen that I don't know about?" Victoria said, enjoying the annoyed look on Paris' face a little too much.

"The rest of us don't have dads who let us do whatever we want," Louise said.

"Seriously, does he ever say no?" Madeline chimed in.

Victoria smiled widely. No, her dad didn't ever say no.

"Ok, Paris, I'll get the new girl's file," Victoria agreed, deciding that she'd toyed with Paris enough.

Paris looked surprised and wary at the sudden change of heart. "You will?"

"Yeah. You're right. It's _only_ USC. They won't care if I get suspended," Victoria said dryly, heading down the hallway to the office. Victoria went inside the office and Paris, Madeline, and Louise went outside and around to the window.

Victoria saw the headmaster's assistant talking to a brown-haired girl. She waited until no one was looking and then walked over and grabbed the girl's file. She crossed the office to the open window and passed the folder out the window to Paris, who immediately started going through it.

"Lorelai Gilmore," Paris read off the transcript.

"Nice stripper name," Louise snickered.

"Formerly of Stars Hollow High School," Paris continued reading.

Louise made a face. "Where's that?"

"Drive west, make a left at the haystacks and follow the cows," Paris said without looking up from the transcript.

"Oh, a Dixie chick," Louise said.

"They probably don't even have a Starbucks," Victoria said from inside the window, never able to understand the appeal of small town life.

Paris skimmed the file for important information. "Perfect attendance, 4.0 grade point average."

"Yes, but we all know a 4.0 at a public school in the middle of nowhere isn't the same thing as a 4.0 here," Victoria pointed out.

"Shut up," Paris told her. "She's a Journalism major."

"That means she's gonna go out for the school paper," Louise said.

Paris glanced at Louise. "Not necessarily." She continued going through the folder. "She's got, like, a thousand recommendations in here."

"Really? A thousand? I'm surprised they didn't need a bigger folder," Victoria said sarcastically.

"Popular with the adults and going out for the school paper," Louise said, exchanging look of amusement with Victoria.

Paris glared at Louise. "Would you stop? You don't know she's going out for the paper."

"Ow, something's biting me! I hate nature," Madeline complained loudly.

"She'll never catch up. She's a month behind already," Paris said, more to herself than anyone else.

"You can tutor her, be like a big sister," Louise suggested with a grin.

"You're funny," Paris muttered. "Why are they letting all these extra people in? They just take up space and screw up the curve. We don't need any new kids here."

Paris passed the folder back through the window to Victoria, and Victoria quickly put it back on the table and got out of the office. She waited in the hallway for her friends so they could walk to class together.

"Where's Tristan?" Madeline asked, noticing that he wasn't there as they took their seats and looking at Victoria for the answer.

It was the sixth day in a row he hadn't been there. Not that Victoria was counting. Victoria shrugged. "I don't know. Why are you asking me?"

"Maybe because he likes you," Louise said with a knowing smile.

"Well, that may be true, but I don't talk to him every day," Victoria said, trying to sound nonchalant. "I don't know where he is."

Tristan DuGrey was only the best looking guy at Chilton, and, in the month she'd been at Chilton, he'd taken every opportunity to flirt with Victoria. She was new and exciting. She was flattered by the attention and he was her type, so she encouraged it.

She made out with Tristan at a party at Madeline's house two weekends ago. He hadn't called her after the party and he hadn't been in school. At first she thought maybe he'd gotten what he wanted and was over her, but now she was wondering if something had happened.

Speak of the devil, Tristan came in a few minutes late and handed Mr. Remy a pass. Victoria heard Mr. Remy ask him how his grandfather was. Ok, so maybe he had a good reason for not calling.

As he walked back to his desk, Tristan caught Victoria's eye and smiled. Victoria smiled at him and then looked down when she realized Louise and Madeline were watching them. She waited a minute and then glanced back at Tristan, frowning slightly when she saw him staring at the new girl.

An hour later the bell rang and Victoria walked out with Louise, Madeline, and Paris.

"What are you doing?" Victoria asked when she realized that Paris had stopped outside the door.

"Waiting for Lorelai," Paris answered.

"_Why?_" Victoria said as she turned to Paris. She didn't understand Paris' fascination with the new girl. Paris certainly hadn't acted like this when she was new. "So what if she's a Journalism major? No one spends as much time studying as you do. You don't have anything to worry about."

"I know," Paris said.

Victoria raised an eyebrow. "Then why are we waiting for the new girl?"

"No one said you had to wait," Paris told her.

Victoria sighed and stood back to wait with Louise and Madeline. They watched as Rory walked out of the classroom and almost walked into Paris.

"Oh," Rory said, surprised.

"I'm Paris," Paris said, sizing Rory up.

"I didn't see you there. Where'd you come from?" Rory muttered.

"I know who you are, too," Paris said, ignoring Rory's question. "Lorelai Gilmore from Stars Hollow."

"You can call me Rory," Rory told her.

"Are you going out for the Franklin?" Paris asked bluntly.

"The what?" Rory wondered.

"She's not really good with small talk," Victoria whispered to Louise and Madeline, who laughed quietly.

"Nice innocent act," Paris said sarcastically. "At least I know you're not going out for drama club."

"I'm confused," Rory said with a frown.

"The Franklin, the school paper. Are you going out for it?" Paris demanded.

Rory looked at Paris warily. "I don't know. I have to find my locker first."

"I'm gonna be editor next year," Paris said.

"Well, good for you," Rory told her, not really knowing what to say.

"I'm also the top of the class and I intend to be valedictorian when I graduate," Paris said.

Victoria grinned. "You tell her, Paris."

"Ok, I'm going now," Rory said, walking away.

Paris re-joined her friends, who were laughing at something but stopped when they saw her. She looked at Victoria suspiciously. Victoria tried to look innocent and failed. The innocent look was however close enough to Rory's facial expression from just a moment ago that Paris noticed.

"You know, the new girl looks freakishly like you," Paris said, narrowing her eyes at Victoria.

"Yeah, maybe if Victoria didn't do her hair or make-up," Louise said, having already decided that Rory was in desperate need of a makeover.

"You didn't tell me you had a twin," Tristan said, walking over to them and putting his arm around Victoria's shoulders casually.

"You see?" Paris exclaimed triumphantly. "I told you the new girl looks like you."

Victoria looked at them skeptically. "Just because we both have brown hair? A lot of people have brown hair."

Tristan shook his head. "It's not just that."

"Oh. What is it then?" Victoria said softly, turning to Tristan and looking in his eyes with a coy smile. She laughed when he was momentarily speechless, obviously still surprised by how flirtatious she was, even after a month of flirting with each other. "Oh, I missed you."

Tristan recovered quickly. "Yeah? How much did you miss me?" He said with a smug grin.

"Not enough to ditch History and go in a broom closet with you," Victoria told him, "but I just might invite you over to my empty, fatherless apartment tonight if you play your cards right."

"It's a date," Tristan said and then left them.

"I said might," Victoria called after him.

"So are you two together now?" Louise asked curiously.

"I don't know," Victoria admitted. This was the first time she'd talked to him since the party. She didn't really know what they were, if anything.

"But you like him?" Madeline pressed.

"Yeah, I like him," Victoria confirmed.

In her next class, Victoria stared at Rory, trying to figure out what everyone was talking about. They did kind of look alike. They had the same brown hair and blue eyes, but so did a lot of other people.

Rory's hair was a few inches longer than Victoria's and she wore it pulled back in a ponytail. Victoria's hair was shoulder-length and she always wore it down. She had some copper highlights and layers in her hair, compliments of her grandmother's hairstylist.

Rory's skin tone was a little darker than Victoria's and she wasn't wearing any make-up. Victoria would never have gone to school without make-up. Victoria had yet to see Rory smile, while Victoria was always smiling or laughing.

They were both wearing the Chilton uniform, but even that they wore differently. Rory's blue button down shirt was a little big on her, where Victoria's was tight. Rory's skirt was also a little longer than Victoria's. Victoria was wearing diamond earrings and a silver necklace from Tiffany's – both of which were presents from her grandparents.

Rory felt Victoria's eyes on her and glanced up nervously. She had good reason to be nervous after Paris and Tristan.

"Um, can I help you?" Rory said.

"Sorry," Victoria apologized, realizing that she'd been staring. "The general consensus is that you look like me. I don't really see it."

Rory looked at Victoria and gasped. "I'm sorry…what's your name?" She stammered.

"My name?" Victoria repeated slowly. "Victoria Hayden." She looked at Rory curiously. "Why?"

Now it was Rory's turn to stare at Victoria. "My name's Rory Gilmore," she said, watching Victoria for any sign of recognition. She got none.

"Yeah, I know. The whole school knows," Victoria told her. She saw the look of shock on Rory's face and tried to reassure her, not knowing what the look was really about. "Don't worry. It'll die down soon. I was new at the beginning of the year and now no one talks about me, except, of course, to tell me that you look freakishly like me, to quote Paris." She smiled at Rory.

"You don't see it?" Rory said.

"No. I mean, come on, how many people have brown hair and blue eyes? A lot," Victoria said.

"A lot," Rory echoed. But how many other people were named Victoria Hayden and looked like her? Just one. Her sister. Rory had to talk to her mom.

* * *

After school Rory got into the passenger seat of her mom's Jeep. She looked out the window and saw Tristan and Victoria walking out together. He had his arm around her shoulders and she was laughing at something that he'd said.

"Mom, I have to talk to you," Rory said.

"What's wrong?" Lorelai asked as she pulled out of the school parking lot. The long hug before they got in the car had clued her in that something was wrong.

"Nothing's _wrong_," Rory said and Lorelai shot her a look. "Well, the kids are weird, but, Mom…it's Victoria. She's here." She looked at her mom anxiously. Lorelai had never told her how much she regretted the custody arrangement, but Rory knew her mom well enough to know she missed Victoria.

Lorelai's hands tightened on the steering wheel and she inhaled sharply. "Victoria as in my daughter, your twin sister, that Victoria?" She clarified, though she already knew the answer from the look on Rory's face.

Rory nodded. "And it was weird. It's like she didn't know who I was. Everyone was saying she looks like me, or I look like her…"

"Technically she looks like you. You're my firstborn," Lorelai told her. "And she should like you. You are twins."

"Yeah, but, Mom, I don't think she knows about me," Rory said.

"How could she not know about you? You're identical twins and you were sitting in the same classroom all day," Lorelai pointed out.

"I don't know," Rory said, shaking her head. "She just didn't."

"Well, I guess…it's possible that your dad didn't tell her," Lorelai said. She told Rory everything, but she honestly didn't know what Christopher had told Victoria.

Lorelai had serious doubts about his ability to raise a kid. It had been one of the many things they fought about when she was pregnant and then the first year they had Rory and Victoria. She had very reluctantly agreed to raise Rory while he raised Victoria, mostly because it would be easier than sharing custody with him. She knew Christopher loved their kids and his parents would help him however grudgingly, but…she still wanted both of her kids with her.

"Did you know she would be here?" Rory asked.

"Oh, honey, no, of course not," Lorelai answered. "I would've told you if I did. Last I heard they were in California."

"She did say she was new at the beginning of the year," Rory told her.

"What else did she say?" Lorelai asked curiously. She wanted to know everything there was to know about her daughter.

"Not much," Rory answered truthfully.

Lorelai nodded. "Well, how did she seem? Did she seem happy?"

"As happy as you can be in History class," Rory said.

Lorelai smiled. "Good." She looked over at Rory. "Rory, I don't know what you want me to do here."

"Do you think they would want to know me?" Rory blurted out.

"I…maybe. I can call your dad and ask," Lorelai said uncertainly. She didn't know how she would feel about it if Christopher did want to get to know Rory.

Lorelai knew it was selfish, but she didn't want to share Rory. She wanted to get to know Victoria though. The whole situation sucked.

* * *

"Hello?" Christopher said, answering his cell phone from his office.

Lorelai took a deep breath. "Hi, Chris? It's…"

"Lor," Christopher finished, recognizing her voice.

"We need to talk," Lorelai said in a serious tone.

"About what?" Christopher wondered. He hadn't heard from her in over fourteen years and the last time they talked it hadn't been pretty.

Lorelai laughed nervously as she sat down at the kitchen table. "Oh, you know, the news, the weather, our daughters."

"Is Rory ok?" Christopher asked, worried.

"No, she's fine," Lorelai assured him. "It's just…she, uh, started Chilton today."

"Oh," Christopher said, shocked. Lorelai hated private school. He never in a million years would've thought that she would send Rory to one.

"Yeah, oh," Lorelai echoed. "She said Victoria's going to Chilton?"

"Yeah," Christopher acknowledged, scrubbing his hand down his face, "yeah, she is."

"I take it Victoria didn't say anything to you?" Lorelai said.

"No, but she, uh, doesn't know about you or Rory…or anything," Christopher told her.

"What, she thinks the stork dropped her off?" Lorelai said bitterly, not really believing that a sixteen year old girl had never once asked about her mother.

"No. I mean, she knows I got her mother pregnant in high school and it didn't work out, but that's it," Christopher said.

"And she never asked about me?" Lorelai pressed.

"No," Christopher answered honestly.

"Oh. Ok," Lorelai said sadly. "Well, Rory knows about you and about Victoria. She knew exactly who Victoria was the minute she saw her." She paused, waiting for Christopher to say something. When he didn't, she took a deep breath and went ahead. "She asked me if you guys want to know her. So, I guess what I'm asking is…do you want to come over and, I don't know, have dinner? You can get to know Rory and I can get to know Victoria."

"I don't know. I have to talk to Victoria," Christopher said. "I'll call you back. Bye." He wanted to get to know Rory. He just didn't know how Victoria was going to react to this.

Christopher hadn't told Victoria she had a twin because he didn't think she'd ever get a chance to know Rory. Lorelai had called off the wedding and left town with Rory. He didn't think he'd ever see either of them again.

Christopher had been hurt and he'd punished Lorelai by only telling Victoria the bad things about her mother – that she left them. Now he'd have to tell her everything.

"Bye," Lorelai said, and then stared at the phone as it went dead.

* * *

Christopher walked into his apartment with a bag of take out from Victoria's favorite sandwich and salad place. "Victoria? I'm home!"

In her room, Victoria pulled away from Tristan. She had invited him over with the intention of talking and then making out, but so far they'd only made out.

"Your dad's home?" Tristan said as he grabbed his Chilton blazer.

"He's never home this early," Victoria muttered.

"It's ok. Parents like me," Tristan told her.

"Not in my room they don't," Victoria said.

"Victoria!" Christopher called again.

His voice was getting closer. "You might want to fix your top," Tristan suggested.

Victoria looked down and buttoned her blue button down shirt.

When Christopher knocked on her bedroom door, Tristan grabbed a notebook out of Victoria's backpack and flipped it open to a random page

"Victoria?" Christopher said, waiting for permission to enter.

"Come in," Victoria answered.

"Hey," Christopher said as he opened the door. He saw Tristan standing in the middle of her room and raised his eyebrows.

"Dad, this is Tristan," Victoria introduced him. "He was-"

"Just helping her study," Tristan said with a confident smile. He walked over to the doorway and shook Christopher's hand. "It's nice to meet you, sir."

"It's nice to meet you," Christopher said, not really thinking it was nice to find a boy in his daughter's bedroom. "So you, uh, go to Chilton?"

"No, Dad, I'm actually studying with him even though he goes to a different school with different classes and different teachers. Oddly enough, we're studying the same thing," Victoria said sarcastically, earning a brief smile from Tristan.

"I went to St. Vincent's for elementary and middle school and now I'm at Chilton," Tristan answered.

"St. Vincent's, huh? Is Headmistress Bell still there?" Christopher asked.

Tristan nodded. "Yes, sir."

"God, I hated her. She kicked me out," Christopher said, having attended St. Vincent's for a short time.

Tristan looked surprised. "Really? For what?" He asked curiously.

"Streaking during a football game," Victoria said, having heard the story.

"Impressive," Tristan said, amused.

Christopher shrugged. "I try."

"Well, I should go," Tristan said.

"I'll walk you out," Victoria said politely.

Victoria waited until they were in the hallway and then shot Tristan a look. "_You_ were helping _me_ study? You haven't even been in class in over a week."

"Hey, at least I take notes when I go to class," Tristan said. "I saw the drawing of Coach Anderson in your notebook. I had no idea you were an artist."

Victoria grinned, remembering the drawing she'd done when she was bored in health class. Their teacher had a porn mustache and wore these horrible plaid short shorts. "I thought it was a good likeness if I do say so myself."

"Oh, it was, but I don't think the drawing is going to help you on the test," Tristan said.

Victoria smiled widely. "Then it's a good thing you're tutoring me."

Tristan looked at her and smirked slightly. "Health is one of my best subjects, you know."

"Oh, I know. You're an expert on the human body." Victoria bit her bottom lip and smiled coyly.

"Only on the female body," Tristan corrected.

"I stand corrected," Victoria said, struggling to sound humbled.

"I don't know. I think you may need some more help and I'd be happy to help," Tristan said with a grin as he leaned in to kiss her.

Victoria sighed when he pulled away. "See you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow," Tristan said, turning to go down the hall to the elevator.

Victoria went back into the apartment, where her dad was waiting for her.

"He seems cool," Christopher said.

Victoria smiled. "I kind of like him."

"I'm not sure I like you having him in your room," Christopher said pointedly. That was as close as he ever came to telling her no.

"We weren't doing anything," Victoria said, a little uncomfortable. She hated lying to her dad, but she didn't really want to talk to her dad about boys. Who would?

"Ok." Christopher nodded, too uncomfortable to press the issue. "So I heard there was a new girl at school today?"

Victoria gave him a weird look. "Who'd you hear that from?"

"Your mother," Christopher blurted out.

Victoria stared at him. "What?" As far as she knew, he hadn't talked to her mother since her mother left fourteen years ago.

"The new girl, Rory?" Christopher said and Victoria nodded slowly. "She's…well, she's your sister…your twin."

Victoria's eyes widened in shock, and then, when the initial shock wore off, she laughed humorlessly as she thought about her conversation with Rory. "She knew. Everyone knew except me. God, I'm such an idiot."

"Not true," Christopher said, hating that Victoria felt that way.

"Yeah." Victoria smiled tightly. "I am."

"We agreed that you'd live with me and Rory would live with your mom. Your mom took Rory and left. Her parents said she was living in some small town. She always hated Hartford, private school…" Christopher said as he paced. He shook his head and looked at Victoria. "Everything about her parents world. I never thought you'd see Rory. How could I have known Rory would go to Chilton?"

"You couldn't have known," Victoria said flatly. She shot him a look. "But you still should've told me. I mean, how could you just not tell me that I have a twin?"

"I'm sorry, Tory," Christopher said sincerely, genuinely feeling terrible. He hated that Victoria was mad at him, though he knew she would be.

Victoria raised an eyebrow when he used the childhood nickname. "Seriously? Tory and Rory? What were you smoking when you named us?"

"That's a funny story actually." Christopher smiled fondly. "Your mom wanted to name you guys after herself. She said men did it with boys all the time, so why couldn't she?"

"What's her name?" Victoria asked. Her dad had only ever called her mother your mom and her grandparents not-so-fondly referred to her mother as that woman.

"Lorelai Victoria Gilmore," Christopher answered.

"Well, I'm glad you didn't name me Lorelai." Victoria remembered Louise's comment about it being a stripper name and tried not to snicker.

"Your mom, she's pretty great," Christopher told her.

"Didn't she, like, leave you at the altar?" Victoria said pointedly.

"Before that," Christopher qualified his previous statement, "she was pretty great before that. God, you remind me so much of her sometimes." He smiled fondly.

"Whatever you do, don't tell the grandparents that," Victoria said dryly, well aware of her grandparents feelings about her mother.

Christopher grinned. "I think you'd really like her. She wants to be a part of your life. Think about it."

"How big a part of my life are we talking about here?" Victoria said nervously.

Her dad occasionally left her with her grandparents when he was in between jobs or traveling a lot. She didn't really like it when he left her with them, but she was at least used to them.

Victoria knew her dad would be traveling with his new job and she didn't like the idea of him leaving her with someone she didn't know, even if it was her mom. She wanted to get to know her mom though.

"Nothing crazy. She wants to start small. Dinner. You, me, Rory, and Lorelai," Christopher told her.

"Just dinner?" Victoria confirmed.

Christopher nodded. "Just dinner."

"Ok," Victoria agreed.

"Ok?" Christopher said, wanting to make sure she was really ok with it.

"I said ok," Victoria said, annoyed.

"Are we ok?" Christopher asked warily.

"I just…I don't even know what to say to you right now. You didn't tell me that I have a twin," Victoria said. She saw the hurt look on his face and sighed. "It's just a lot to process. Just give me time." Victoria could never stay mad at her dad, but she wasn't ready to forgive him yet.

* * *

Lorelai was sitting at the kitchen table, staring at the phone when it finally rang. It had been a few hours, but it felt longer. How long did it take Christopher to talk to Victoria anyway?

"Hello? Chris?" Lorelai said, answering the phone after the first ring.

"Lorelai, hey," Christopher said tiredly. "Is it too late? Victoria just went to bed."

"No," Lorelai said quickly, though she glanced at the clock on the microwave and noted that Rory had gone to bed over an hour ago.

"I talked to Victoria and we're in," Christopher told her.

Lorelai breathed a sigh of relief. She wanted to meet Victoria, and, more importantly, she really didn't want to have to tell Rory that her dad didn't want to meet her. "Good. Saturday ok for you?"

"Oh, uh, Victoria usually goes out on weekends. You know how it is," Christopher said with a laugh. He knew Victoria's reaction would be pretty much the same as his if his parents had made him go to a family dinner on a Saturday night when he was sixteen. Not good. And she was already mad at him.

Actually she didn't. Rory usually stayed in and watched movies with her. "Oh. Well, what day were you thinking?" Lorelai asked, caught off guard.

"Well, uh, how about tomorrow?" Christopher suggested.


	2. The First Dinner

Chapter Two: The First Dinner

"So your dad and Victoria are coming over for dinner tonight," Lorelai told Rory as she put two Pop-Tarts in the toaster the next morning.

"Tonight? Wow, that was fast," Rory commented quietly.

"Is it too fast?" Lorelai asked, not wanting Rory to do anything she wasn't ready for.

"No. No, it's fine," Rory said unconvincingly.

"We don't have to do this if you don't want to. I can call and reschedule," Lorelai offered as she turned to look at Rory.

"No," Rory said quickly. "I want to do this. I do." She looked at her mom nervously. "Do you think they'll like me?"

"I don't think it's possible to meet you and not like you," Lorelai said with a smile.

"You have to say that because you're my mom," Rory said.

"Yeah, well, try telling Emily that," Lorelai said as she put a Pop-Tart on a plate and handed it to Rory.

"So Victoria knows now?" Rory asked.

"She knows," Lorelai confirmed.

"And?" Rory pressed, unsure what to expect when she saw her twin at school.

"And I don't know, Rory. Your dad didn't give me the details," Lorelai said honestly.

* * *

Victoria managed to avoid Rory until history, which was hard to do considering they had all the same classes.

Rory seemed nice and Victoria genuinely wanted to get to know her twin, just not in front of the entire school. She didn't really want to have to explain why she didn't know that Rory was her twin yesterday when everyone was commenting on it.

Victoria had gotten used to the Hartford elite gossiping about her dad. He was probably the only Chilton parent under the age of thirty-five. She didn't need them gossiping about her mother and long lost twin now, too.

In history, it was Paris' turn to present her history project and she didn't have it. Rory had apparently wrecked it just before class, which only made Paris hate her even more than she already did. After class, Paris went over to Rory's desk.

"Stay out of my way. I will make this school a living hell for you," Paris promised.

Victoria looked at Rory, feeling bad for her twin. She didn't envy anyone on Paris' bad side. She had never been on Paris' bad side. Victoria had no desire whatsoever to go to an Ivy League School, so Paris didn't see her as competition.

Victoria was going to say something to Rory when Tristan sauntered over.

"See you tomorrow, Mary," Tristan said to Rory, and then he looked at Victoria. "I can help you study tonight, you know, as your tutor," he said with a smug smirk.

Victoria glanced at Rory. "I'm, uh, going to dinner with my dad tonight. Rain check?"

Tristan nodded, then left.

"Tristan's your tutor?" Rory said.

"Uh, Rory, he's not really my tutor," Victoria told her. "I don't need a tutor."

"I don't get it," Rory said innocently.

Victoria looked at Rory and decided that she was serious. She really was a Mary as Tristan put it.

Victoria wasn't about to tell Rory that Tristan was her friend with benefits, for lack of a better term. "We study together. That's all."

"Oh," Rory said.

"See you tonight," Victoria said, wondering how much she'd have in common with her twin. Rory was nice, but she seemed a little boring.

Paris was waiting for Victoria at her locker. "I can't believe you were talking to Rory after she wrecked my project."

"Look, I don't think she did it on purpose. She's not exactly Tonya Harding," Victoria told her.

"She's not sweet and innocent. It's an act," Paris said scathingly.

Victoria sighed. "I don't know, Paris. She seems pretty sweet and innocent to me."

"Well, she's not," Paris said definitively.

"Ok, well, can I help you fix your project?" Victoria offered. She didn't really want to do extra work that wasn't even hers, but Paris wouldn't be quite as mad at Rory if they fixed the project and she got a good grade. "I mean, I know I'm _only_ going to USC, but I'm not a complete idiot. I think I can manage castle repair."

"Ok. Thanks," Paris agreed since she didn't view Victoria as competition.

* * *

"You're home late," Christopher said when Victoria walked in the door. He wasn't mad, but he had thought for a second that Victoria had changed her mind and decided not to come home so she wouldn't have to go to dinner.

"Sorry. I had to stay after school," Victoria said, knowing he wasn't mad.

"Detention?" Christopher guessed. He still wasn't mad. She came by it honestly.

Christopher had been kicked out of his fair share of schools. So far Victoria had only been kicked out of one. She just got detention…a lot.

"Actually no," Victoria told him, enjoying the surprised look on her dad's face. "I was working on a school project." She left it at that, not wanting to rat Rory out.

"Uh-huh and when is this project due?" Christopher asked, though he could guess.

"Tomorrow," Victoria said.

Christopher grinned. "That's my girl."

"I'll go get ready. What time do we have to leave?" Victoria asked, heading back to her room.

Christopher glanced at his watch. "Ten minutes ago."

"And when you're driving?" Victoria said pointedly. Neither of them ever went the speed limit.

"That was with me driving," Christopher said, smiling.

"Are we taking my car or your bike?" Victoria asked. She would wear a skirt if they were taking her car, but she didn't want to wear a skirt if they were taking his bike.

"I want to take my bike if it's ok with you. I never get to ride it now that I'm working so close to home," Christopher said. Victoria liked riding on his bike, but sometimes she didn't want to because it messed up her hair or she couldn't wear a skirt, so he always asked.

"That's fine," Victoria told him.

Victoria changed in record time. She touched up her make-up quickly and then she was ready to go.

* * *

"What should I wear, Mom?" Rory called from her room.

Lorelai walked into Rory's room and looked at the dresses laid out on Rory's bed. "Well, I can't speak for Victoria, but your dad will probably be wearing a t-shirt and jeans. He's pretty casual."

Rory looked surprised. "I've only seen Victoria when she was wearing a uniform, but she doesn't really seem like a jeans and t-shirt type of girl."

Rory had just imagined her dad being a younger version of her grandpa. He'd raised Victoria and she seemed to fit in with the rich kids.

Lorelai frowned slightly, wondering how involved Straub and Francine were in raising Victoria. "That's his parents fault. I'd be willing to bet on it."

"Are they like Grandma and Grandpa?" Rory wondered quietly.

"Yes. Only worse," Lorelai answered.

"What are you wearing?" Rory asked after a moment, still having trouble deciding what to wear.

"Exactly what I'm wearing now," Lorelai told her.

Rory looked at her mom's t-shirt and jeans and nodded.

"I'm gonna order Chinese from Al's Pancake World. I figured we could all share," Lorelai said, watching from the doorway as Rory grabbed a sweater from her closet.

Rory nodded. Chinese sounded good.

Rory came out of her room wearing a blue v-neck sweater and jeans as her mom was setting the take-out cartons out on the table. She grabbed plates and silverware. They sat down at the table while they waited for Christopher and Victoria.

"What do I call Dad?" Rory asked, starting to get nervous.

"Well, you can call him dad, or father if you're mad at him. Daddy is always good if you want something," Lorelai told her.

Rory shot Lorelai a look. "Mom, I'm serious."

"I know, hon. Call him dad if you want, or Christopher if you're not comfortable with that," Lorelai said, unsure what Christopher would want her to call him.

"Do you think Victoria will call you mom?" Rory wondered.

Lorelai shook her head. "I don't know."

Rory looked at the clock anxiously. "They're late. Do you think they changed their minds? What if they're not coming?"

"I wouldn't worry about it. Your dad's always late," Lorelai said.

Lorelai could see how nervous Rory was. Rory shouldn't have to be nervous, not about this.

If Christopher didn't come, Lorelai was going to hunt him down and kill him for getting Rory's hopes up like this. He always did this when they first had the twins, too. He would say he'd do something and then he just wouldn't show up.

About fifteen minutes later Lorelai heard a motorcycle and stood up. "That's your dad."

"What? How do you know?" Rory asked.

Lorelai looked at Rory. "Who else would have a bike in Stars Hollow?"

Lorelai walked over to the front door and Rory followed her. "Does that mean Victoria's not coming?" Rory asked.

They went out onto the front porch and saw a bike turn onto the street. There was a man driving and a girl riding on the bike behind him.

"No, it means she's riding on the back of his bike," Lorelai said with a sigh, watching as Victoria hopped off the bike and took her helmet off.

Lorelai wouldn't want Rory riding on a bike, but she should've known Christopher wouldn't think twice about it with Victoria.

Victoria waited until her dad got off the bike and then walked up to the porch with him.

"Nice bike," Lorelai said, breaking the awkward silence.

"What is it? A Harley?" Rory asked, just naming the only type of motorcycle she knew.

Christopher laughed and Lorelai opened her mouth to answer, but Victoria beat her to it.

"It's a 2000 Indian," Victoria said, and Christopher smiled proudly. Whether he was proud of the bike or his daughter's extensive knowledge of bikes, Lorelai wasn't sure.

"80 horsepower, 5 speed close ratio Andrews transmission," Lorelai said knowingly, earning a look of surprise from Victoria. She smiled at Victoria, and then shot Christopher a look. "You're late."

Christopher looked at Lorelai, caught off guard by the accusatory tone. "Yeah, sorry about that-"

"It's actually my fault," Victoria said, quick to defend her dad. "I had to stay after school."

Rory looked at Victoria curiously, wondering why she'd stayed late. She thought Victoria told Tristan that she couldn't study.

"That's ok," Lorelai said, smiling warmly at Victoria. "Come on in."

Lorelai led the way into the kitchen. "So we've got garlic chicken, Kung Pao chicken, sesame chicken, chicken with brown sauce."

"Mom doesn't cook," Rory said with a smile.

"Who wants something to drink?" Lorelai asked.

"I'll take a beer," Christopher said.

"Ok, Victoria?" Lorelai said as she grabbed two beers out of the refrigerator, one for her and one for Christopher.

"Uh, do you have Diet Coke?" Victoria asked.

"No, we don't drink diet. I do have regular…"

"Oh, that's ok. I'll just have water," Victoria said.

Rory got a glass out of the cabinet and handed it to Victoria while Lorelai walked over to hand Christopher a beer. He twisted the top off and took a drink.

They let the girls get plates first. Christopher stared at them. "I can't believe this. It's been a long time and seeing them together…"

Both Victoria and Rory were wearing their hair down and they both had blue sweaters on. To Christopher, they looked a lot alike.

"They still look the same. Look at that, they even match," Christopher commented with a grin.

Lorelai was staring at their daughters, too, but she was noticing the ways in which they weren't alike.

Rory was wearing a cotton sweater and jeans, while Victoria was wearing a long, expensive-looking sweater over black leggings. Victoria was also wearing expensive jewelry – the kind of jewelry Emily always bought Lorelai when she was growing up. Rory was right…Victoria was not the jeans and t-shirt type.

Victoria was teeny tiny, hence the diet soda. Lorelai would guess that she was a size zero.

Lorelai sighed and sat down at the table next to Rory. "So when did you guys get back from California?"

"You keeping tabs on me?" Christopher asked with a smug grin.

"No. My parents are," Lorelai said flatly.

"We got back in August," Victoria said. Knowing only how things ended between her dad and Lorelai, she'd expected tension and was trying to keep the peace.

"I wanted Victoria to start the school year off here," Christopher added, exchanging a look with Victoria. She'd been kicked out of the private all girl school she went to in Berkeley.

Lorelai noticed the look and wondered what it was about.

"Yeah, and we know not to move in the middle of the summer. We moved to Portland in July when I was…" Victoria looked at her dad questioningly. "Ten?"

"Eleven," Christopher told her.

"And I didn't know anyone. I was so bored," Victoria said.

"Which meant she expected me to entertain her all the time," Christopher chimed in.

"Only he didn't want to go shopping or work on his tan, so he wasn't really very entertaining," Victoria said.

"Hey, your grandparents offered to send you to summer camp," Christopher reminded her.

Victoria made a face. "Bugs, heat, humidity."

"How many times have you moved?" Lorelai asked, realizing it must have been a lot from the way Victoria was talking.

"A few," Christopher hedged.

"A few," Lorelai repeated dryly, wanting a real answer.

"Have you always lived here?" Victoria asked, tactfully changing the subject.

"Yes. Well, Hartford, then an apartment behind Mom's inn right when we first moved here, and then here," Rory said.

"It's kind of far away from Chilton," Victoria pointed out, wondering how early Rory had to leave to get to school on time.

"Thirty minutes by bus," Rory told her.

"You don't have a car?" Victoria realized, sounding surprised, and Rory shook her head.

Lorelai frowned. She knew not every sixteen year old had a car, but apparently Victoria didn't know that.

Christopher was spoiling Victoria, or, far more likely, his parents were.

"Hey, what sport do you play?" Rory asked Victoria suddenly, remembering that she had to pick a sport to play.

"Oh yeah, that's right, you have to pick a team sport to play," Lorelai said. "I still think you should go out for the debate team."

"That's not a sport," Victoria and Rory said in unison. They looked at each other, surprised. Maybe it was a twin thing.

"It is the way the Gilmores play," Lorelai said with a smile.

"Uh, dance," Victoria said in answer to Rory's question.

"Oh, I took ballet when I was younger and I stunk," Rory said. "Are you good?"

"Well, I'm no Anna Pavlova, but I'm ok," Victoria said modestly.

"Don't listen to her," Christopher said. "She's great, though she wasn't always." He smiled fondly. "My mom signed her up for ballet class when she was five and Victoria didn't want to do it-"

"Hey, the music was bad and tutus, really?" Victoria said in her defense, making a face.

Christopher just grinned. "So, my mom takes her to the class and Victoria just sits down in the middle of the dance studio. She wouldn't move. My mom had to take her home."

"Oh, I'll bet Francine loved that," Lorelai said, smiling widely.

"She was really mad. She withheld dessert for an entire week until I went back to class and apologized to the teacher," Victoria remembered. "She knows how to hold a grudge. So I went back to dance, minus the tutu. I've been dancing since I was five. What are you going to do?" Victoria asked Rory.

"I don't know. I'm not really the athletic type," Rory answered.

"Well, there's always bowling," Victoria suggested.

"Wait, bowling counts as a sport?" Lorelai said, surprised and amused.

Victoria nodded. "It's an easy A. Louise and Madeline are taking it and they like it."

"Man, why didn't they have bowling when I was in school?" Lorelai lamented.

"Why? What did you do?" Victoria asked curiously.

"Badminton," Lorelai answered. "And I sucked. I took out Mike Price with the racquet thingy."

"The racquet thingy?" Christopher repeated with a teasing grin.

"I don't know what it's called!" Lorelai said.

Victoria looked around. "Where's the restroom?"

"Oh, I'll show you," Rory said, standing up. She showed Victoria her bathroom and then went back into the kitchen. "Dad, do you want to see my room?"

"Sure," Christopher said, loving that she was calling him dad.

While Rory showed off her books and Harvard paraphernalia, Lorelai started putting the leftovers in the refrigerator.

Victoria came out of the bathroom and surprised Lorelai by offering to help. Lorelai knew Emily wouldn't offer to help. She would think it was beneath her. And Victoria had obviously been raised in her parents' world.

"You're probably used to having a maid," Lorelai commented as Victoria cleared the table.

"Only at my grandparents," Victoria said, a little defensive. She was definitely getting the feeling that Lorelai didn't approve. "I'm the maid at our apartment," she added with a laugh.

Lorelai turned to look at Victoria. "Do you stay with your grandparents a lot?"

Victoria shrugged noncommittally, knowing there was no love lost between her grandparents and Lorelai. "Sometimes."

Rory and Christopher came out of Rory's room talking animatedly about Boston.

"When were you in Boston?" Lorelai asked Christopher, catching the tail end of their conversation.

"We lived there for about a year when I was in third grade," Victoria answered.

"Rory wants to go to Harvard," Christopher told Victoria.

"And where do you want to go? Princeton, Yale, Harvard?" Lorelai asked Victoria, listing off all the top choices for East Coast prep school kids.

"USC actually," Victoria said, surprising Lorelai yet again.

"What do you want to major in?" Rory asked, genuinely interested.

Victoria looked caught off guard. She didn't really know what she wanted to do, but she'd made the mistake of telling her grandparents that once and she was not going to make that mistake again.

"Partying," Christopher answered for Victoria with a laugh, and Lorelai raised an eyebrow.

Christopher didn't care if Victoria drank. He knew kids were going to go to parties and drink when they were in high school. He certainly had.

They had a deal. Victoria could drink as long as she didn't drink and drive. She knew she could call Christopher if she needed him to pick her up from a party. And she had.

Victoria would tell him what she was really doing and he would tell her his own crazy stories.

The only time either of them edited out parts of the story was when members of the opposite sex were involved. He didn't really want to hear about his sixteen year old daughter kissing boys any more than she wanted to know what her dad did with his many girlfriends.

"True," Victoria said with a sheepish smile, "but, if Headmaster Charleston asks, I'm a pre-law major."

"You want to be Perry Mason?" Rory said.

"Uh, my dad wants her to take over his practice. He finally realized I'm never going to law school," Christopher explained. "I don't think Victoria knows what she wants to be when she grows up."

"Well, you still have plenty of time to figure it out," Lorelai told Victoria.

"What do you do?" Rory asked, turning to Christopher.

"I'm a consultant," Christopher said vaguely, avoiding Lorelai's gaze. "Hey, are you still gonna give me the grand tour?" He asked Rory, who had promised him a tour of Stars Hollow when they were in her room.

"Yeah," Rory said excitedly. She looked at Victoria. "Do you want to come?"

Victoria hesitated slightly. She didn't want to be rude, but she had no desire to see the small town.

Lorelai could tell Victoria didn't really want to see Stars Hollow. "Hey, here's an idea. Why don't you stay here with me? We can have some mother daughter time," Lorelai suggested.

"I think I'll stay here with Lorelai," Victoria decided.

Lorelai tried to smile even though she was a little hurt and disappointed that Victoria didn't call her mom. "Not a small town girl?" Lorelai said when Christopher and Rory left.

"No, I'm more of a city girl," Victoria said. "I need to have Starbucks, Sephora and Nordstrom within a ten mile radius."

"Ah," Lorelai said, nodding. "You know, I'm really glad you're at Chilton. I think it'll be great for Rory to have a friend there and I want to get to know you. I was thinking we could do this once a week or something."

"You'll have to come over to our place next time," Victoria said politely.

"I think that can be arranged," Lorelai said, smiling. She really wanted to get to know Victoria and she kind of wanted to see where her daughter was living. "You know, if we're going to be seeing each other frequently, you can call me mom."

"Uh," Victoria said, caught off guard. She didn't really know what to say. She wasn't completely comfortable with Lorelai yet.

"Or not," Lorelai said, struggling to hide her disappointment.

Victoria looked at Lorelai apologetically. "Sorry. It's just…you left and-"

"Is that what he told you?" Lorelai demanded angrily.

"He told me the truth," Victoria said quietly.

"Clearly he didn't if you didn't know you had a twin until yesterday," Lorelai said pointedly.

_Maybe that's because you took Rory and left and he didn't think we'd ever see you again_, Victoria thought. She didn't want this to be the last time she ever saw Lorelai though, so she refrained from saying that. She knew it wouldn't be good if they got into it.

"Let's not do this. I don't want to fight," Victoria said instead.

"I don't want to fight either," Lorelai said with a tentative smile. She didn't want to fight, at least not with her daughter. However, she wouldn't mind going a few rounds with Christopher.

There was a moment of silence with neither of them knowing what to say after that.

"So USC," Lorelai said finally, breaking the awkward silence.

Victoria gave Lorelai a weird look.

"I was just wondering how you picked it," Lorelai explained.

"Uh, well, I like California," Victoria said, not knowing if it was a good idea to tell Lorelai that she _had_ picked USC mainly because it would be a fun school.

"How long did you live in California?" Lorelai asked.

"A year," Victoria told her.

"Where were you in California? LA?" Lorelai wondered.

"Berkeley," Victoria said.

"And you didn't want to go to school there and be a hippie?" Lorelai joked.

"Oh, God, I can just imagine the look on my grandmother's face if I told her I wanted to go to Berkeley," Victoria said with a laugh. "Actually that would be funny. Where did you go to school?"

"Uh, I never went to college," Lorelai said, a little uncomfortable since getting pregnant at sixteen was the reason she didn't get to go to school. She tilted her head to look at Victoria. "Did your dad?"

"Oh, um, he went to Princeton, but he didn't graduate," Victoria said.

"Wow," Lorelai said. "Princeton with a baby."

"I wasn't with him," Victoria said, shaking her head. "I was with my grandparents."

Lorelai looked at Victoria. "So, then, why didn't he graduate?"

"I don't know. He quit after his first year. I think he would've stayed longer if he'd gone somewhere fun. He's not exactly the most studious person in the world," Victoria said.

"Hey, are you talking about me?" Christopher asked as he and Rory walked into the kitchen.

"That was fast," Victoria commented, surprised they were back already.

"It was, uh, interesting," Christopher said. "We saw Al's Chinese Pancake House, we were stalked by several townspeople, and apparently I look like Billy Crudup."

"Wait, what?" Victoria said, surprised and confused.

"I look like Billy Crudup," Christopher repeated.

"No, not that part," Victoria told him "That was the only thing you said that was even halfway normal."

"We were stalked by several townspeople?" Christopher said.

"Who thought you looked like Billy Crudup and wanted your autograph?" Victoria said slowly, confused as to why random people would be stalking her dad.

"They all mean well," Rory said nicely.

"How many people are we talking about here?" Lorelai asked, needing to be prepared. She was sure she would hear about it.

"Kirk, Taylor, Miss Patty, and Jackson," Rory told her.

"Ah, yes, according to Jackson, I have that money nose," Christopher said.

"How do you have a money nose?" Victoria wondered.

Christopher shrugged and shook his head, laughing a little. "Should we go before my stalkers find me?" He asked, obviously directing the question to Victoria.

"Yes, please," Victoria said.

"Ok, thanks for coming," Lorelai said, walking Christopher and Victoria out.

"Thank you for having us," Victoria said politely.

"Hey, Mom and I are going to do a movie night on Saturday. Do you want to come?" Rory invited them, sounding excited. She didn't know that her mom had originally asked Christopher about Saturday.

"Oh, uh, Madeline's birthday is on Saturday," Victoria said. She thought a movie night with her parents on a Saturday night sounded a little boring, at least compared to one of Madeline's parties. Maybe another night…

"We'll all get together again soon," Lorelai assured Rory.

"Ok," Rory said, a little disappointed. "Bye, Dad." Rory hugged Christopher tightly and Christopher grinned down at his daughter.

Lorelai turned to Victoria, who stepped into her arms and gave her a quick hug. "So dinner next week?" Lorelai confirmed.

Victoria nodded. "See you next week. See you tomorrow, Rory."

Christopher put his helmet on and handed Victoria hers. Victoria hopped on the back of the bike and Christopher drove away.

"So that was Dad," Rory said as she walked in the house.

"So that was Victoria," Lorelai said.

"He's not like Grandpa," Rory commented.

Lorelai laughed and looked at Rory. Did her kid really think she would've been interested in someone like her father? "No, he's not. What made you think he would be?"

"He raised Victoria the way Grandma and Grandpa raised you," Rory said, looking at her mom.

"His parents raised Victoria the way your grandparents raised me," Lorelai corrected, having gotten the distinct impression that Christopher had been more of a playmate than a parent.

_A/N: Thank you to anyone who is reading. I hope you're enjoying. As for the question of will there be Christopher/Lorelai, yes...but there will also be Max/Lorelai and Christopher/Sherry. I have it planned out through high school graduation, and, while I may do things a little differently, I will use all of the characters that were in the show._


	3. The Truth

Chapter Three: The Truth

"So, listen, nothing about your dad and Victoria to your grandparents, ok?" Lorelai said, standing in front of her parents' house.

Rory looked at her. "You want me to lie to Grandma and Grandpa?"

"I want you to keep information from them," Lorelai corrected.

"Ok," Rory reluctantly agreed.

Lorelai rang the doorbell and Emily answered the door. "Hello, Lorelai, Rory," Emily greeted them, holding the door open. "Come in."

"Hi, Mom," Lorelai replied.

"Hi, Grandma," Rory said.

"So, we want to hear all about your first week at Chilton," Emily said excitedly as she led them into the living room.

"Uh," Rory stalled with a glance at her mom.

"Rory had to pick a sport to play," Lorelai said, helping her daughter out. "She's bowling."

"Bowling?" Richard repeated, surprised.

"Well, the choices were basketball, lacrosse, swimming, track, golf-" Rory began.

"Golf, now that's a sport," Richard commented.

"We tried to get Lorelai to golf. Of course, she didn't do anything we wanted her to do. We still have her old clubs here," Emily remembered.

"She's bowling, Mom," Lorelai said, already seeing where this was going.

"Your grandfather is a golf player," Emily continued, completely ignoring Lorelai. "He could teach you to play."

Lorelai stared at Emily and then took a sip of the martini her father had handed her. Was Emily deaf?

"Your father was on the golf team when he was in high school," Richard informed Rory. "Good golfer, your father."

"She's bowling," Lorelai repeated, frustrated and annoyed.

"Why don't we let Rory decide?" Emily said in a condescending tone.

"She did decide. This was Rory's decision," Lorelai said. She felt like banging her head against a wall.

"I'm not really the athletic type," Rory chimed in.

"You get that from your mother," Emily told Rory. "It's a shame you didn't get your father's athletic ability."

Lorelai looked at Emily. "What athletic ability?"

"Christopher was on the golf team, Lorelai," Emily said.

"Yeah, when he was in high school," Lorelai said slowly, knowing Christopher had only joined the golf team because he wanted to leave campus and goof off on the golf course and get credit for it.

"Speaking of Christopher," Emily said, "his business is doing very well."

"What do you know about his business?" Lorelai asked, frowning.

"He called us a month ago when he got back in town," Emily said in a matter of fact tone.

"You knew he was back in town?" Lorelai said, staring at Emily in disbelief.

"Isn't that what I just said?" Emily said.

"Mom, did you know Victoria's going to Chilton?" Lorelai asked, narrowing her eyes at Emily.

"Well, of course we knew," Emily told her. "Christopher talks to us more than you do."

"Why didn't you say anything?" Lorelai said, obviously upset.

"I assumed you knew," Emily said. "She's your daughter, Lorelai."

"But she lives with Christopher. You know that," Lorelai pointed out.

"And that means you know nothing about her life? You never talk to Christopher?" Emily inquired.

"Yes, that's exactly what it means," Lorelai told her.

"It's bad enough you don't talk to your daughter, but to not even ask Christopher how she is…" Emily said critically.

Lorelai took a deep breath and exhaled loudly. "Mom, Rory and I had dinner with Christopher and Victoria this week."

Emily looked surprised. "You did? I think that's wonderful. Isn't that wonderful, Richard? You should bring them to dinner next week. Your father and I would love to see her."

"I don't know, Mom," Lorelai said.

Emily looked at Lorelai. "Why not?"

"I've only had dinner with Victoria once. I want to get to know her first," Lorelai explained.

"Well, at the rate you're going, it will be another sixteen years before that happens," Emily said.

Lorelai sighed. "It's not going to be sixteen years."

"I hope not," Emily said pointedly.

"It's not," Lorelai insisted.

"We'll see," Emily said with a patronizing smile.

"Do you know where Christopher's working?" Lorelai asked.

"I thought you had dinner with him this week," Emily said.

"I did. We didn't talk about work," Lorelai said, really struggling to be patient.

"He's working as a consultant for a tech company," Richard told her.

"Great." Lorelai smiled, finally getting somewhere. "What's it called?"

* * *

"Lorelai," Christopher said, surprised to see Lorelai standing in the doorway of his office on Monday afternoon.

"Christopher," Lorelai said. "Can I come in?"

"Yeah, come in," Christopher said, and Lorelai walked in, shutting the door behind her. "What are you doing here? How'd you know where here is?"

"My parents," Lorelai replied.

"Your parents, huh? You must've really wanted to talk to me," Christopher commented, knowing exactly how much she hated talking to her parents.

"I did," Lorelai confirmed, sitting down across from him. "I want to talk to you about Rory and Victoria."

"What about them?" Christopher wondered guardedly.

"What exactly did you tell Victoria about me?" Lorelai asked.

Christopher looked at her warily. "I told you, she didn't know about you until the other day-"

"Well, you must've said something because she seems to think I left," Lorelai said bitterly.

"You did," Christopher accused.

"You. I left you. I wanted to take her with me," Lorelai refreshed his memory. "So, what, you just told her I left? That's it. No background information?"

Christopher sighed. "I told her that we were gonna get married and you called off the wedding and left town."

Lorelai looked at him. "You have to tell her the truth—the whole truth and nothing but the truth."

"Fine," Christopher said. He knew he was wrong to tell Victoria only part of what happened. It wasn't fair to Lorelai or Victoria.

"Ok, now that that's settled, how long are you here?" Lorelai asked.

"What?" Christopher said.

"How long are you here?" Lorelai repeated with an edge to her voice.

"I don't know," Christopher said, avoiding her gaze.

"How many times have you moved? And I'm sorry, but a few is not one of the choices," Lorelai said pointedly.

"Is it multiple choice? True false? I never was very good in school," Christopher joked, trying to avoid the question.

Lorelai shot him a look. "Christopher."

"Well, let's see, Jersey, Hartford, Boston, Seattle, Portland, Berkeley, Hartford," Christopher said, counting off cities on his fingers. "Six. I've moved six times. Do I get a gold star?"

"Christopher," Lorelai said slowly, "you have a daughter. Two actually."

"I know," Christopher said, slightly annoyed.

"Parenting is hard work. It's coming home at the same time to the same place every day. It's being dependable," Lorelai said.

"So I'm the immature one? I'm the irresponsible one? I was the one who was willing to get married when you got pregnant. I wanted to be a family," Christopher reminded her.

"You don't know what a family is," Lorelai said.

"Victoria and I, we're a family," Christopher told her.

"Oh, when she's not living with your parents, you mean?" Lorelai said pointedly.

"Rory's a great kid. You did a good job with her. You raised her all by yourself. You're you and I'm not. I couldn't do it by myself. I needed help," Christopher said. "I'm still her father! She's still my daughter. She's fine. She's happy."

"Good. I'm glad," Lorelai said. "Look, I want to get to know her and I can't do that if you're gonna move again."

"Ok, so what do you want, a copy of my lease?" Christopher said.

"That's just it," Lorelai said. "You're leasing an apartment. You don't have a house. You don't even have a car. There's nothing keeping you here. You're gonna come and go as you please and that's fine, but what about Rory?"

"I want to be a part of her life, be a pal she can depend on," Christopher told her sincerely.

"Well, the door to Rory is open to you. Don't make me regret this," Lorelai warned.

"I won't," Christopher promised.

* * *

Rory walked out of Chilton and saw her mom waiting for her. She hurried over to the Jeep and got in the passenger seat. "Mom! What are you doing here?"

"I was in town so I decided to pick you up," Lorleai told her.

"Wait, why were you in Hartford?" Rory asked.

"Well, I was talking to your dad," Lorelai replied.

"You were? Why?" Rory asked, worried. She wanted to get to know her dad. She didn't want to go back to the arrangement they had before.

"He wants to be part of your life," Lorelai told her.

"Good," Rory said with a smile. She looked at her mom. "That's good, right?"

"I think so," Lorelai said as she got in the line of cars trying to get out of the parking lot. She glanced out the window and saw a girl and boy making out in front of the school. Her eyes widened when the girl pulled away from the boy. "Is that Victoria?"

Rory followed her mom's gaze. "Yep."

"Who's the boy?" Lorelai asked. She hadn't had to deal with boys with Rory.

Rory hadn't ever really acted interested in boys. Well, she didn't want to go Chilton because of the new boy at Stars Hollow High, but that only lasted a day. Nothing ever happened with him.

Even if Rory had a boyfriend, Lorelai couldn't really picture her making out in front of school, whereas Victoria obviously didn't have the same inhibitions.

Lorelai didn't like the way the boy was handling her daughter. His arms were wrapped tightly around her waist with his hands resting on her lower back, a little too low if you asked her.

"Why don't you ask Victoria?" Rory suggested, not wanting to tell her mom about her sister's…whatever Tristan was.

"I'm asking you," Lorelai said with a smile. She looked at Rory. "Who's the boy?"

Rory sighed. "You're not gonna let this go, are you?"

"Nope," Lorelai said.

"Fine. It's Tristan," Rory told her reluctantly.

Lorelai gasped, knowing how Tristan treated Rory. "No!"

"Yes," Rory muttered.

"Oh no. I'm sorry, hon," Lorelai said, looking at Rory sympathetically.

* * *

"Tor, I need to talk to you," Christopher said from the couch, where he was waiting for Victoria when she got home from school.

He was never home this early. "What's wrong?" Victoria asked, dropping her backpack on the floor by the door.

"Nothing's wrong," Christopher told her. "I just need to talk to you."

"Ok, so talk," Victoria said, walking over to the couch warily.

"I talked to your mom today," Christopher said.

"You talked to Lorelai…about me?" Victoria said with a frown. "She doesn't want to do dinner tomorrow, does she?"

"No," Christopher said quickly, not wanting Victoria to think that. His daughter thought Lorelai was going to leave her again. He'd really screwed up. "I screwed up."

"What did you do?" Victoria looked at him nervously.

"Your mom left me," Christopher began.

"I know," Victoria said quietly.

"She left _me_," Christopher said. "Not you. It had nothing to do with you. She wanted to take you and Rory with her."

Victoria frowned. That was new information. "What?"

Christopher looked at her. "She never, ever wanted to leave you."

"Then what happened?" Victoria asked.

"She wanted to take you and Rory and leave. I said no, she couldn't take my kids away from me. We had a big fight about it," Christopher remembered.

"Who won?" Victoria wondered.

"No one," Christopher said. "She took Rory and I kept you."

"Whose idea was that?" Victoria asked.

"We both thought it was best," Christopher answered honestly. "We couldn't share custody. We couldn't make it work. It was too hard."

"Your dad's a lawyer and you got your custody agreement from the Parent Trap?" Victoria said. "How did that work anyway? I mean, did you flip a coin? Heads, Rory, tails, Victoria?"

"Actually we let you guys pick," Christopher told her.

Victoria stared at him. "Weren't we, like, two?"

"We put you guys in the middle of the room and went to opposite sides of the room," Christopher explained, and Victoria gave him a weird look. "It was your mom's idea," Christopher told her in his defense. "You came to me." Christopher had been worried that both of the girls would go to Lorelai. They knew Lorelai better.

When Lorelai put Rory down in the middle of the room, Rory cried and followed her.

Victoria however had enjoyed her freedom, even then. She had gone straight for the expensive crystal candy dish on the coffee table in Emily's living room, and, when Lorelai told her no, she'd gone to Christopher.

"I did?" Victoria said.

Christopher smiled and nodded. "Yeah." His smile faded and he looked at her. "Do you wish you'd gone with your mom?"

There were times when she'd missed having a mom, but most of the time Victoria was happy with her dad. She loved him.

"No, Dad," Victoria assured him with a reassuring smile.

"I love you, kid," Christopher said, relieved.

"I love you, too," Victoria told him.


	4. He's Not My Boyfriend

Chapter Four: He's Not My Boyfriend

"Hard paper," Paris commented, pleased. They'd just gotten their papers back and she'd seen everyone's grade. She got an A, but that wasn't why she was happy. She was happy because Rory got a D.

"Killer," Louise agreed.

"How'd you do?" Paris asked, though she already knew the answer.

"A," Louise answered.

"Me, too," Paris told her. "Victoria?"

"A minus," Victoria announced proudly. She did as little work as possible to still get an A. An A minus was fine by her.

"I don't understand you," Paris said, knowing Victoria was smart enough to get an A.

"I'm complicated," Victoria said cheerfully.

Paris shook her head at Victoria and then looked at Madeline. "Madeline, what'd you get?"

"You know I got a B," Madeline responded.

"A B's not bad," Paris said, though she would probably have a nervous breakdown if she ever got a B.

"Oh, not at all," Louise agreed.

"Respectable even," Paris stated.

"I'd be proud," Louise said.

"A D however, that would be cause for concern," Paris said, looking at Rory.

Victoria hadn't been paying any attention to what anyone else got on the paper. She didn't care what anyone else got. She followed Paris' gaze to Rory and frowned, knowing Rory must have gotten a D and Paris had obviously seen her grade. Rory looked absolutely miserable.

"A cry for help," Louise stated.

"A job application at McDonald's," Paris said.

"Would you like fries with that?" Louise chimed in.

Victoria usually enjoyed mocking people with her friends, but not when the person in question was Rory. She hated being stuck in the middle between her friends and Rory. She had more in common with Louise and Madeline than Rory but…Rory was her sister.

"Yes, because everyone that doesn't get straight A's ends up working in a fast food establishment," Victoria said sarcastically.

Paris shot Victoria a look and continued. "Hey, you know, not everyone can be smart. As my mother always says, somebody has to answer the phones."

"Ok, I have no idea what you guys are talking about," Madeline said, completely oblivious.

"No, but Rory does," Paris said with a satisfied smile.

"You guys go ahead," Victoria told them, wanting to talk to Rory. "I forgot something in my locker."

Victoria waited until Paris, Louise, and Madeline left and then walked over to Rory. "Hey, you ok?"

"I'm fine," Rory said.

"I'm sorry about Paris," Victoria apologized.

Rory turned to face Victoria. "How can you be friends with her?"

"I'm not really friends with her," Victoria said honestly. She didn't dislike Paris, but she didn't like her either. Paris wasn't exactly what she would call fun.

"No?" Rory said, having seen how often Victoria hung out with Paris in the course of the last week.

"I'm friends with Louise and Madeline," Victoria told her. "And they're friends with Paris."

"Oh, well, in that case…" Rory said, not thinking much of Louise and Madeline either.

Tristan walked over and put his arm around Victoria's shoulders. "Hey," he said with a smile. He noticed Rory. "Hey, Mary."

"The name is Rory," Rory said. She was really getting tired of him calling her Mary.

Tristan looked at Victoria. "I don't think your friend likes me very much."

"I think you're right," Victoria told him.

Victoria knew Tristan was just teasing Rory. He'd done the same thing when Victoria was new, though he hadn't thought that she looked like a goody-goody. But Rory was not Victoria and Rory was taking everything he said too seriously.

"That's too bad because I was going to invite you to my party on Friday night," Tristan told Rory with a smirk.

"I'm busy," Rory muttered.

"What, you gotta be back at the convent by five?" Tristan said.

Rory looked at him. "Please leave me alone."

"Well, since you said please. See you, Mary," Tristan said, and then he looked at Victoria. "I'll see you later."

"Can you please ask your boyfriend to leave me alone?" Rory asked Victoria when Tristan left.

"Oh, he's not my boyfriend," Victoria told her. She still hadn't talked to Tristan about what they were, if anything. She kept meaning to, but, when they were alone together, talking was the last thing on her mind.

Rory gave her a weird look. "Ok."

"You're coming over with Lorelai tonight, right?" Victoria confirmed. It had been one week since the first family dinner and Lorelai was coming over to their apartment for dinner.

Rory nodded. "We'll be there."

"You're welcome to come over now if you want," Victoria invited her. "That way you don't have to take the bus all the way back to Stars Hollow and then come back here."

"Ok, yeah," Rory agreed with a smile. She wanted to spend time with her sister and her dad.

"Come on, I parked over here," Victoria told her, leading the way to the student parking lot.

"You have a Porsche," Rory said, staring at the red sports car as Victoria opened the trunk and put her backpack in it.

Victoria nodded. She loved her car. It was a birthday present from her grandparents—the same type of car they'd given Christopher when he turned sixteen, only she didn't crash hers. She did however get a $300 speeding ticket the first month she had her license.

"You have a Porsche," Rory repeated, unable to believe that Victoria had a Porsche. Her sister had a nicer car than her mom.

"You getting in?" Victoria asked, walking over to the car door and looking back at Rory. Rory walked over and slid into the passenger seat.

When Victoria turned the key in the ignition, loud music blasted from the stereo. "Even Flow," Rory recognized the song.

Victoria turned the volume down a little and looked over at Rory. "You like Pearl Jam?"

Rory nodded.

"My- I mean, our- grandparents gave me the car for my sixteenth birthday and Dad gave me the stereo. He's really into music," Victoria told Rory.

"So is Mom," Rory said.

"Tell me about her," Victoria instructed.

"She's my best friend. We watch movies and go to concerts together all the time. We're going to go backpacking through Europe together when I graduate high school," Rory said and then glanced over at Victoria. "What's Dad like?"

"We're close. We go on road trips a lot. When we lived in Berkeley, we drove his bike to LA. We didn't take anything with us. We bought stuff when we got there," Victoria remembered. "So we can just go home and hang out, or we can get coffee or something."

"Coffee," Rory told her, needing a coffee after the day she'd had.

Victoria turned into a strip mall and found a parking space. As they got out of the car and headed to the coffee shop, Victoria pointed out a dance studio in the same strip mall. "That's my dance studio."

"It's big," Rory said, comparing it with Miss Patty's.

They went into the coffee shop and ordered large coffees, black with no sugar.

"You drink black coffee?" Victoria said, surprised. She would've thought Rory would order one of the sugary caramel drinks after watching her twin drink two Cokes at dinner.

Rory nodded. "I love coffee."

"Me too," Victoria told her as they got back in her car. "How do you like your eggs?"

"Sunny side up," Rory answered. "Why? How do you like them?"

"Sunny side up," Victoria said with a smile. "What's your favorite color?"

"Blue," Rory said.

"Me too!" Victoria exclaimed, happy that she had more in common with her sister than she had originally thought. "We really are twins."

"This is fun," Rory commented with a smile. "What's your favorite movie?"

"Breakfast at Tiffany's," Victoria replied.

"I love Audrey Hepburn! You should come next time Mom and I do a movie night. We can watch Breakfast at Tiffany's, Roman Holiday and My Fair Lady," Rory said excitedly.

* * *

"Victoria, I'm home!" Christopher called as he walked into his apartment.

"We're in my room," Victoria called from her room, where she and Rory were studying. Well, Rory was studying, or at least she was trying to study. It was hard to concentrate with the music Victoria was listening to and Victoria talking non-stop.

"Uh, we who?" Christopher asked, hoping she didn't have Tristan in her room again.

"Dad!" Rory exclaimed, running to hug him.

"Rory! Hey!" Christopher said, pleasantly surprised to see her. He looked at Victoria from the doorway of her room. "Why aren't you this excited to see me?"

Victoria rolled her eyes. "I just saw you this morning."

"I could leave and come back tomorrow," Christopher joked.

"See you tomorrow," Victoria said.

"You're mean," Christopher told her.

"I know. I'm terrible," Victoria said dryly. "I feed you, do your laundry, and clean."

Christopher grinned. "And you do a good job. What's for dinner?"

"Lasagna," Victoria responded.

"I'm gonna go to the store and get some wine to go with the lasagna," Christopher said, knowing Lorelai would want wine. He only had beer. "Rory, you want to come?"

"Uh, sure," Rory agreed.

"What kind of homework you working on?" Christopher asked as they walked to the store. It was across the street from the apartment.

"It wasn't homework," Rory told him.

"So you were reading a textbook for fun?" Christopher said, choosing a bottle of pinot grigio.

"I was studying," Rory told him. "We have a test next Friday."

"Next Friday?" Christopher repeated as he paid for the wine. "It's Tuesday."

"I know. It's worth twenty percent of our grade," Rory said. "Hasn't Victoria said anything?"

Christopher snickered. "No. She won't open the book until the night before the test."

Rory was quiet as they walked back to the apartment. She felt stupid. She got a D, yet her sister, who didn't seem to care about her grades and didn't even study, got an A minus. She knew Victoria started at the beginning of the year and she started late, but…she got a D. She'd never gotten a D before. She'd never even gotten a C or a B.

* * *

"Hey. Welcome," Christopher said when Lorelai got there. Victoria was making dinner and Rory was studying at the kitchen table.

Lorelai saw Victoria looking very at home in the kitchen. "You cook!"

Victoria looked back over her shoulder as she took the lasagna out of the oven. "I do."

"I don't cook," Lorelai said. "Your dad doesn't cook. Last time I checked, our parents both had cooks. I don't know where you get it. I know! You're Mario Batali and Ina Garten's love child."

"Or maybe I just know how to read," Victoria said with a sarcastic smile. "There are these crazy things called cookbooks. They have them in every bookstore."

"Ok, now the sarcasm, that you get from your father," Lorelai told her.

"And your mother," Christopher said pointedly.

"Then where did Rory get her sweet disposition?" Victoria asked them.

"Well, she's Gandhi and Mother Teresa's love child of course," Lorelai said.

"You know, I didn't go to Catholic school that long, but I'm pretty sure the nuns weren't in the habit of having kids," Victoria commented.

Lorelai looked at Victoria. "You went to Catholic school?"

"It was the only private school she could get into in California. There were waiting lists and it was the middle of the year," Christopher explained.

"Public school would've been fine," Victoria said flatly.

Having moved around a lot, Victoria had gone to her fair share of schools. She was good at making friends in new schools. She wasn't shy. She'd always liked school, more for socializing than learning, but she'd hated her school in California.

"Yes, it would've been fine if we wanted to kill my mother," Christopher said.

"Oh, that," Victoria said as she got lettuce, tomato, and cucumber out of the refrigerator to make a salad.

"I want to help," Lorelai said. "I want to chop things. I want to be like the Iron Chef."

"No!" Rory exclaimed, knowing enough not to let her mom anywhere near the food. "Come on, let's get you away from the kitchen." Rory grabbed Lorelai's hand and pulled her over to the kitchen table.

"Why don't you see if they want anything to drink?" Victoria asked her dad.

"Do you guys want anything to drink?" Christopher said.

"White wine would be good," Lorelai told him.

"Soda," Rory requested.

"And then you can set the table," Victoria told her dad as he poured Lorelai a glass of pinot grigio.

"Yes, ma'am," Christopher said sarcastically, but he set the table anyway after he delivered the drinks to Lorelai and Rory.

"Dinner is served," Victoria announced and everyone migrated to the kitchen to serve themselves.

"This is good," Rory complimented as she dug into the lasagna.

"And you learned how to do this from a book?" Lorelai said.

"A cookbook," Victoria said with a grin.

"We should get one of those," Lorelai told Rory.

"No," Rory said.

"Why not?" Lorelai asked.

"You'd burn down the house," Rory replied.

"Oh, that," Lorelai said, then she turned to Christopher. "So if Victoria cooks and cleans, what do you do?"

Victoria looked at her dad. "Yeah, Dad, what do you do?"

"I pay for the food," Christopher said.

"So do you guys eat out all the time?" Victoria asked, directing the question to Lorelai and Rory.

"Yes, we eat at Luke's practically every day," Rory responded.

"Luke's?" Victoria said.

"The diner," Christopher told Victoria, remembering Luke's Diner from the tour of Stars Hollow.

"Luke makes the best burgers," Rory said.

"And fries," Lorelai chimed in.

Victoria shook her head. "How do you not weigh 500 pounds?"

"Good genes," Lorelai said with a smile.

* * *

"Hey, do you want to see my room?" Victoria asked Lorelai when they were done eating. She wanted to talk to Lorelai alone.

"Sure," Lorelai said, following Victoria down the hallway to her bedroom.

Victoria's room had plain white walls. There was a bed with a white, purple, blue, and green striped comforter. There was a desk, though it looked like Victoria was using it as a make-up table if the make-up mirror, tubes of lip gloss and tubs of eye shadow on it were any indication. There was a dresser with a bulletin board hanging above it. There were concert tickets and pictures of Victoria with her friends on the bulletin board.

Lorelai noticed that there were a lot of pictures of Victoria with the same boy and it wasn't the boy she'd been kissing in front of school.

"Who's the boy?" Lorelai asked, looking at the pictures on the bulletin board.

"Oh," Victoria said, caught off guard. "That's Alex."

"He's cute," Lorelai stated.

"He is," Victoria agreed. "So I actually wanted to talk to you."

"About boys?" Lorelai said with a smile.

"Uh, no," Victoria said. "I, uh, think I owe you an apology."

Lorelai looked surprised. "You do?"

"Yeah, Dad told me you left and I always thought you left him _and_ me. I know now that you wanted to take me with you when you left. So…I'm sorry about what I said last week," Victoria apologized.

"It's ok," Lorelai told her. She was never really mad about it. She just didn't want her kid to think that she left her. "So now tell me about the boy."

"Alex? He was my first my boyfriend," Victoria said.

"That's it?" Lorelai said. She wanted her daughter to be able to talk to her about boys. The abdridged version was what she'd tell her own mother and she didn't want that kind of relationship with either of her daughters.

"What, you want his life story?" Victoria said.

"No, I want _your_ story," Lorelai told her. "You know, how did you meet? Why'd you break up?"

"Ok, uh, his friend was going out with one of my friends from dance. We met at his friend's party and we broke up because I was moving," Victoria said.

"Oh, honey, I'm sorry. That must've been rough," Lorelai said sympathetically.

"It's ok. I'm over him," Victoria told her. He was over her anyway. He certainly hadn't wasted any time finding a new girlfriend when she moved.

"New boyfriend?" Lorelai struggled to smile since she knew her daughter liked Tristan and she did not like Tristan. Not one bit.

"No," Victoria said.

"Oh, ok. So the boy you were making out with in front of school yesterday was…?" Lorelai looked at Victoria pointedly.

"You saw us?" Victoria said, surprised.

"You were in front of school and I was picking Rory up," Lorelai told her. "So…?"

"He's not my boyfriend. We're just…hanging out," Victoria said, obviously uncomfortable.

"Funny, I didn't know hanging out involved tongue," Lorelai commented dryly.

"It's no big deal," Victoria said defensively.

Lorelai looked at her. "But you were making out with him. How is it no big deal?"

"Because it isn't!" Victoria said.

"Oh, good argument," Lorelai said sarcastically.

"Look, I wanted to apologize and I did. Can this conversation please be over now?" Victoria said.

"Fine," Lorelai said unhappily with a sigh. She had more to say on the subject and she would've gone ahead and said it if it had been Rory, but this thing with Victoria was still new…

Lorelai felt like she had to be careful what she said to Victoria. If Victoria didn't want to hear it, she didn't have to listen. She didn't have to have dinner with her, or do anything with her that she didn't want to do.


	5. It's Called a Study Group

Chapter Five: It's Called a Study Group

"Hey, backwards baseball hat—new look for you," Lorelai said to Luke as she walked into the diner. She looked at Rory, who was sitting at a table with her notes spread out in front of her and a plate of pie. "She's eating pie? Did she even have dinner?"

"You raised her. I just serve," Luke told her.

Lorelai sat down across from Rory. "Oh, hello, bookworm."

"Finally," Rory commented. "Where were you?"

"Well, um, actually I was in Hartford," Lorelai said, surprised that Rory didn't remember.

"Why?" Rory asked.

"I was there for the-"

"Parent teacher meeting," Rory remembered belatedly. "Oh my God, I forgot."

"It went very well. I was extremely charming. I won the whole crowd over. They made me queen," Lorelai told her.

"So I guess you talked to Mr. Medina?" Rory said.

"Mm hmm," Lorelai confirmed.

"Was Dad there?" Rory asked, worried. She didn't want her dad to think she was stupid, especially when Victoria got an A minus without even trying.

"No. I was the only one under forty in that school." Lorelai looked at Rory. "Why did you let me whine about ice cream and shoe sales when you had something major going on?"

"I know," Rory said.

"I hate when I'm an idiot and I don't even know it. I like to be aware of my idiocy, to really revel in it, take pictures. I feel we missed a prime Christmas card opportunity," Lorelai said.

"I'm sorry," Rory apologized.

"You should've told me," Lorelai told her.

"I couldn't," Rory said.

"You couldn't tell me?" Lorelai said. "You tell me everything."

"It was too humiliating," Rory told her.

"Oh, honey, you once told me that you loved Saved by the Bell. What could be more humiliating than that?" Lorelai said.

"I couldn't form the words. I couldn't even say it. I couldn't even comprehend it. It was a D. I got a D. I've never gotten a D. Ever," Rory explained.

"I know," Lorelai said.

"Even when I broke my arm and couldn't write for a month, I still got an A minus," Rory remembered.

"That was a different school," Lorelai pointed out.

"I know. It was Stars Hollow High. A D at Stars Hollow is like an F at Chilton. It's worse. It's like a G, or a W," Rory said.

"So I'm guessing the spelling test didn't go well either?" Lorelai joked.

"A D. I suck," Rory said miserably.

"You don't suck," Lorelai told her.

"Victoria got an A minus," Rory said, feeling really stupid.

"She didn't have to play catch up. You do," Lorelai pointed out.

"I can't do it," Rory said.

Lorelai looked at Rory, hating what she was hearing. "Listen, a D is bad, ok? But all this talk about I suck and I can't do it and self-pity? That's worse. That's not you. You didn't feel sorry for yourself when it took you three months to learn how to ride a bike and you won't now."

"Four months," Rory corrected.

"Huh?" Lorelai said, confused.

"It took me four months," Rory told her.

"Really? Four months?" Lorelai said, surprised.

Rory looked at Lorelai. "Yeah, you want to belabor the conversation?"

"Alright, forget about the bike. Listen, a D is one grade. It's not the end of the world. You'll catch up. You'll do better. You are of hardy stubborn stock, my dear. If there's one thing I gave you, it's my stubbornness," Lorelai said.

"I'm not stubborn," Rory argued.

"Yes, you are," Lorelai told her.

"No, I'm not," Rory continued to argue.

"Fine, you're not," Lorelai said, smirking slightly.

"Thank you," Rory said.

"You're welcome," Lorelai responded. "You can do this, Rory, and I will help you, and I'm sure Victoria will, too."

"Victoria?" Rory said.

"She's been at this school longer than you have. She got an A minus," Lorelai reminded her. "She's your sister. She'll help you. We will get you through this. Now put that D behind you. What's next?"

"I have a test tomorrow," Rory told her.

"Oh, a test. Great!" Lorelai said enthusiastically.

"It's on Shakespeare," Rory said.

"Bard with a beard. Love it," Lorelai said.

"It's worth twenty percent of my grade," Rory told her anxiously.

"Just makes life interesting. Now what do we have to do to get you an A on that test?" Lorelai asked. "Oh, I know. You and Victoria can study together and I will help you. I'll call her."

* * *

"Hi, Christopher," Lorelai said when Christopher answered the phone. "Is Victoria there?"

"Hey, Lor. No, she's not," Christopher replied.

"Oh. Well, where is she?" Lorelai asked, glancing at the clock.

"She's at a study group. They have a test tomorrow," Christopher told her.

"I know," Lorelai said. "I was just at the parent teacher meeting. Where were you?"

"There was a parent teacher meeting?" Christopher said.

"Yes, there was," Lorelai said, a little irritated. "You should've been there."

"I didn't know," Christopher said honestly.

"Why not?" Lorelai asked.

"I don't know. How'd you know?" Christopher wondered.

"Rory told me," Lorelai said.

"Well, Victoria's not into school like Rory is," Christopher said.

"No one's into school like Rory is," Lorelai told him. "Listen, Rory didn't do so great on the paper. She's wigged. I was kind of hoping Victoria could help her study for the test."

"You can call her cell phone," Christopher said, then he gave her the number.

* * *

"When was The Comedy of Errors published?" Victoria asked Tristan. They were lying down next to each other on his bed, quizzing each other.

"1590," Tristan answered.

"A plus!" Victoria exclaimed.

"Oh yeah? Where's my congratulatory kiss?" Tristan said with a smirk.

"I've got your congratulatory kiss right here." Victoria smiled and moved so she was on top of Tristan. Her lips met his and he deepened the kiss. She pulled away when her cell phone rang.

Tristan groaned. "Don't answer it."

"I have to answer it. What if it's my dad?" Victoria said as she grabbed her cell phone. "Hello?"

"Hi, Victoria. It's me…Lorelai," Lorelai said.

"Hi," Victoria said, caught off guard. She giggled as Tristan ran his hands over her body. "Tristan, stop it."

"Stop what, Victoria?" Lorelai said, hearing her daughter even though Victoria obviously didn't want her to hear.

"Oh, uh, nothing. We're just studying," Victoria said to Lorelai.

"Yes, it sounds like there is a lot of studying going on," Lorelai said dryly. "Listen, Rory needs to get a good grade on this test. Can you come over and help her study?"

"Now?" Victoria said, looking at Tristan regretfully.

"Yes, now," Lorelai said flatly. Now she not only wanted Victoria to help Rory, but she also wanted Victoria away from Tristan.

"Uh, sure," Victoria said finally. It wasn't that she didn't want to help Rory. She just wanted to stay with Tristan.

* * *

"I think Victoria's here," Lorelai said, hearing a car pull up and looking out the window. She saw the red Porsche parked in her driveway and remembered the Porsche Straub and Francine had given Christopher for his sixteenth birthday that he'd promptly crashed.

Rory joined her mom at the window. "Dad's parents gave her the car for her sixteenth birthday."

"They gave him a Porsche for his sixteenth birthday, too, you know," Lorelai said quietly as they watched Victoria get out of the car.

"It's weird. They're my other grandparents. I don't even know them and they buy her a car," Rory commented.

"There are strings attached to that car," Lorelai told her.

"I know. I'm not jealous," Rory said honestly. "It's just weird."

"I know, hon," Lorelai said, knowing her daughter well enough to know she wouldn't get jealous over a car. That wasn't Rory. Lorelai opened the door as Victoria walked up the walkway. "Hi."

"Hi," Victoria said, feeling a little awkward after her last conversation with Lorelai.

"Ok," Lorelai said, leading the way to the kitchen, where Rory's notes were spread out on the table. "So we're studying in here. We have leftover pizza and ice cream."

Victoria sat down next to Rory at the kitchen table and pulled her binder out of her backpack. She opened the binder and took her study guide out of her binder. "Did you finish the study guide yet?" Victoria asked Rory.

Rory nodded and grabbed her study guide.

"Well, I did it with Louise, Madeline, Paris, Ty and Tristan if you want to compare answers," Victoria offered.

"You did it with them?" Rory said, surprised. "I didn't know we could work together."

"He never said we couldn't," Victoria pointed out.

"Yeah, but he didn't say we could either. It's wrong," Rory said.

"Oh, please, everyone at Chilton studies together," Victoria said defensively. "It's called a study group."

"They do?" Rory said. She usually studied alone. She didn't know there were study groups. No one told her about the study groups.

Victoria nodded. "Uh huh."

"I'm behind. I need to catch up on the reading and I got a D and I'm not in a study group and this test is worth twenty percent of my grade. I suck. I can't do it. How am I supposed to get into Harvard if I fail out of Chilton?" Rory lamented.

"I'll be your study group," Victoria said, trying to calm Rory down.

"And me," Lorelai chimed in.

"See? You have a study group. And you have-" Victoria looked at her watch. "Eleven hours and fifteen minutes of study time before the test. That's more time than Louise, Madeline and I spent studying combined."

"What do you need?" Lorelai asked.

Victoria looked at Lorelai. "Caffeine."

"Coffee, tee, soda?" Lorelai said.

"Coffee," Rory and Victoria said in unison and then they exchanged a glance.

"I'll go to Luke's and get us some coffee," Lorelai said. "Victoria, do you want cream or sugar?"

"No, black is good," Victoria told her.

Victoria and Rory compared answers while Lorelai went on a coffee run. When Lorelai got back, Victoria was quizzing Rory.

"I want to do that," Lorelai said, grabbing Victoria's study guide out of her hands as she set the coffees down on the kitchen table. "Hey, you got pink pens," Lorelai saw as she looked at the answers, which were written in pink ink.

"And they're sparkly," Victoria told her.

"Rory wanted manic-depressive black pens," Lorelai said.

"Here we go again," Rory said with a sigh, shaking her head at her mom.

"What? I'm just saying if Victoria got pink sparkly pens, you could've gotten the purple paper," Lorelai pointed out. "And it would've saved me thirty cents. That thirty cents is going on your tab."

"Ok, I'm going back to studying now," Rory told her mom.

"How much do I owe you for the coffee?" Victoria asked Lorelai as she grabbed a cup.

Victoria wouldn't have offered to pay if she'd been with her dad or her grandparents, but she wasn't used to Lorelai buying her things and she didn't know what to expect.

Lorelai looked at Victoria. "You do realize I was kidding about the tab, don't you?"

"Yes, but that was for Rory." Victoria got her wallet out of her purse.

"So…?" Lorelai furrowed her brow in confusion.

"So Rory's yours," Victoria said.

"So are you," Lorelai told her.

"It's not the same," Victoria said quietly.

"It's exactly the same. You're my daughter just like Rory's my daughter," Lorelai told her. Her relationship with Victoria was new and different, but that didn't mean she loved her any less than Rory. "I created you. I can buy you coffee."

"Thanks," Victoria said softly, putting her wallet away.

"You're welcome," Lorelai told her, taking a sip of coffee.

"Mom, if you're gonna hold the study guide, you have to ask questions," Rory said impatiently. She needed to study.

"Right, sorry. Richard III?" Lorelai said.

"1591?" Rory guessed.

Lorelai made a buzzer sound like on a game show.

"''93?" Rory tried again.

Lorelai made a buzzer sound again.

"'96?" Rory said.

Lorelai made a buzzer sound yet again.

Rory shot her mom a look. "Ok, that's getting really annoying now."

Lorelai made a shorter buzzer sound.

"You know, this is way more entertaining than studying with Louise, Madeline and Paris," Victoria commented with a grin.

"I'll bet it's not more entertaining than studying with Tristan," Lorelai said knowingly with a smug smile.

"No. No, it's not," Victoria admitted.

"Your turn," Lorelai said to Victoria. "Let's see how much studying you did at Tristan's house. When was The Comedy of Errors written?"

"1590," Victoria said confidently.

"Good," Lorelai told her.

Rory looked at Victoria with wide eyes. "How do you know all of this?"

"I spent three and a half hours with Paris. I think it's safe to say I know everything there is to know about Shakespeare," Victoria replied.

Two hours later both of them were getting all of the answers right and they were all tired. "What do you say we call it a night?" Lorelai asked.

"I should probably get going," Victoria said with a glance at her watch.

Lorelai looked at the clock. "It's almost midnight. Do you want to crash here?"

"Thanks, but I think I'd rather go home. The apartment is only, like, ten minutes away from school and I'm not really a morning person," Victoria said, starting to pack her notes up.

Lorelai frowned slightly, worried about Victoria driving that late at night. "You sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure," Victoria said, standing up.

Lorelai walked Victoria out and gave her a hug. When she returned to the kitchen, Rory was reviewing her notes. "You can go to sleep. I want to review my notes one more time," Rory told Lorelai.

"Oh, that's ok, I'll stay up," Lorelai said.

"Mom, go to sleep," Rory insisted.

"No, I'm not even tired," Lorelai lied. "I was just thinking of you."

* * *

"I'm sorry," Rory apologized as she walked into class late the next morning.

"Everyone back to your tests. Miss Gilmore, you're going to have to wait in the library," Max told her.

"But what about the test?" Rory asked.

"I'm afraid you've missed the test," Max said.

"No," Rory said. There was no way she'd stayed up all night studying for the test and she'd missed it.

"We start class promptly at 8:05," Max told her.

"No," Rory repeated, unable to believe she wouldn't be able to take the test after everything.

"That's when I need people to be in their seats," Max said.

"Please," Rory pleaded desperately.

"I'm sorry, but it's the rules," Max told her.

"But you don't understand! I was up all night studying and then I missed my bus so I had to drive-"

"Let's discuss this outside," Max said.

"So I'm driving down this road and I stop and I get hit by a deer," Rory continued. She wasn't going to leave that classroom. Not until she took the test.

Max looked at her in disbelief. "You hit a deer?"

"No, I got hit by a deer," Rory corrected. "You don't believe me? I've got antler prints on the side of my mother's car."

Rory wasn't used to adults not believing her. She wasn't lying and it made her mad that he thought she was.

"Rory, come on," Max said.

"No! You have to let me take this test. I'm ready for this test. I know everything there is to know about Shakespeare," Rory told him frantically.

"Ok, ok, you have to calm down now," Max said.

"I know his birthday and his mother's name and the kind of-"

"Loser," Paris whispered to Louise.

Rory spun around to look at Paris. "And just what is wrong with you, huh? You already have everything! You already have the grades and the status. What the hell is wrong with you that you have this constant need to be the biggest jerk in the entire world?"

"Ok, let's go," Max said.

"Huh? What? What's up, quippy? Why so silent?" Rory asked Paris.

"Outside. Now," Max said firmly.

Rory walked by Tristan, who was smirking, and glanced back at him angrily. "And for the last time, the name's Rory!"

* * *

"Quite a day, huh?" Lorelai glanced over at Rory as she drove home from Chilton.

"I don't want to talk. Please," Rory said.

"You know, I just think that we should talk about it," Lorelai told her.

"Stop the car," Rory said suddenly.

"What?" Lorelai said.

"Here. Stop here," Rory told her and then got out of the car.

"You're just feeling like an impromptu nature walk?" Lorelai said.

"I want to see if it's ok," Rory explained.

"If what's ok?" Lorelai asked.

"The deer," Rory told her.

Lorelai looked at her. "Sweetie, you're never gonna find the deer."

"Well, I'm gonna try," Rory said.

"Well, I'm in heels!" Lorelai said.

"Well, stay in the car," Rory said.

"It's dangerous in the car with all the kamikaze deer running around," Lorelai said, getting out of the car.

"I have to find it," Rory insisted.

"Alright, wait up!" Lorelai called after her, hurrying to catch up. "So what does the deer look like? Does it have any distinguishing marks besides the word Jeep imprinted on its forehead?"

"It's just a deer," Rory said.

"I had a nice chat with Headmaster Charleston today," Lorelai said sarcastically. "He said you went ballistic in class."

"I was just tired," Rory told her.

"You wouldn't have been so tired if you hadn't been killing yourself all week," Lorelai pointed out. She didn't like that Rory was so tired and stressed out. She'd never seen Rory like this.

"I was studying. I didn't have a choice," Rory said.

"Well, maybe you shouldn't be studying that hard," Lorelai said pointedly.

Rory looked at her mom. "What are you talking about?"

"You're sixteen," Lorelai said. "You should get some sleep and eat a real meal and come up for air once in awhile."

"They kicked me out," Rory said.

"No, of course not. They love you," Lorelai tried to reassure her, though she didn't think Headmaster Charleston liked either of them very much. "This is coming from me."

"Are you saying I should quit?" Rory asked.

Lorelai took a deep breath. "I'm saying if you wanted to go back to your other school with Lane, that would be fine with me."

Rory's face fell. "You don't think I can do it."

"You know that's not true," Lorelai told her. "I think you can do anything. But you don't lose it in class. That's not part of the Rory personality description. And if you're losing it in class because you're tired or stressed or working too hard, I'm worried about that. I have to be."

"I lost it once," Rory defended.

"Ok, fine," Lorelai said. "It's just I can't remember, you know, a time when we weren't talking about you going to Harvard. It was just a given. That was what we were working for. Everything went in that direction."

"I know," Rory said.

"And I'm forgetting where all that started," Lorelai continued, starting to feel guilty.

"What are you talking about?" Rory asked.

"I'm talking about did it start with me? Or did it start with you? Was it my dream that you go to Harvard?" Lorelai wondered, her guilt building.

She bought Rory a Harvard sweatshirt when Rory was four.

She told Rory that she had to go Chilton when Rory wanted to stay at Stars Hollow. Granted, Rory wanted to give up a great opportunity for a boy she'd just met, but still…

"Mom," Rory protested, shaking her head. She genuinely wanted to go to Harvard.

"Because I never got to do the big fancy college thing? Maybe all this time I'm thinking it's all for Rory when really it wasn't," Lorelai said, more to herself than to Rory.

"I'm not doing this because of you," Rory told her honestly.

"Because if you are, you don't have to," Lorelai said softly.

"I know that," Rory said quickly.

"I'll still love you even if you can't support me in my old age in the fabulous manner to which I plan on growing accustomed," Lorelai told her.

"I'll remember that generous gesture," Rory said.

"Thank you." Lorelai looked at Rory. "I just want you to be happy."

"I am," Rory assured her.

"No, I want you to be dancing through the woods crazy happy. And if Chilton and Harvard is not gonna do that for you, then forget about them," Lorelai told her.

"I was just behind. I never caught up with all the reading. That's why I got a D. I can catch up. I will catch up. And when I do, everything will be fine," Rory assured her.

_A/N: I know this chapter has several parts from the show. I try not to do that, but this episode made sense for the story. _

_This chapter is mainly to show that Lorelai will love Rory no matter what she does. She just wants Rory to be happy. _

_The differences in the way Lorelai raised Rory and the way Victoria was raised will come into play later._

_The next chapter is going to be Friday night dinner with the Haydens and the Gilmores. Lorelai told Emily that she wanted to get to know Victoria first, but since when has Emily listened to her? Lorelai will be in for a big surprise when the Haydens show up. And after that we will have the Chilton bake sale, however it will be very different with the addition of Victoria and Francine._

_Thank you to everyone who is reading._


	6. Chernobyl and the Hindenburg Combined

Chapter Six: Chernobyl and the Hindenburg Combined

"So how was the parent teacher meeting yesterday?" Emily asked Lorelai as Richard got Lorelai a drink. It was Friday night and they were in the living room.

Lorelai looked at Emily. "How did you know about the parent teacher meeting?"

"Your father and I know people at Chilton, Lorelai," Emily told her. "You did go to the parent teacher meeting, didn't you?"

Lorelai sighed. "Yes, Mom, I went."

"Good," Emily said. "I hope you were dressed appropriately."

"Mom…"

"What? Last time you were dressed completely inappropriately and on Rory's first day of school," Emily reminded her.

"And you're never gonna let me forget that," Lorelai said knowingly.

The doorbell rang and Emily stood up. "I'll get that."

"Saved by the bell," Lorelai whispered to Rory.

"Oh my God! You're here. Christopher, look at you!" Emily exclaimed from the entryway.

"Christopher?" Lorelai said, narrowing her eyes.

"And Victoria!" Emily exclaimed. "We haven't seen you since you were two. It's so good to see you."

"Victoria?" Lorelai said with a hard edge to her voice.

"Well, Richard's in the living room. Come on in. He's dying to see you," Emily told Christopher and Victoria, leading the way into the living room. Lorelai stood up.

"Hi, Lorelai," Victoria said, giving Lorelai a hug and then sitting down next to Rory.

"You look surprised," Christopher said quietly to Lorelai.

"Oh, I am," Lorelai told him. She couldn't believe this was happening.

She had specifically told her mom that she wanted to get to know Victoria first, but when did Emily Gilmore ever listen to her? This was vintage Emily Gilmore.

Christopher looked at Lorelai. "I thought your mom-"

"She didn't," Lorelai told him. "Mom, can I talk to you for a minute?"

"We have company, Lorelai," Emily said. "Christopher and Victoria are here."

"I see that my daughter and the father of my children are here," Lorelai said pointedly. "Mom, I told you I wanted to get to know Victoria first."

"Well, I ran into Francine at the club-"

Lorelai closed her eyes for a second and then looked at Emily warily. "Please tell me the Haydens aren't coming."

"I can't," Emily responded.

"Cat got your tongue?" Lorelai said. There was a mixture of sarcasm and anger in her voice. Christopher and Victoria were one thing, but the Haydens…

"I can't because they are coming," Emily told her as the doorbell rang. "That must be them now. Sit down, Lorelai. You're being very rude. You don't want the Haydens to think you're rude, do you?"

"Rude would be an improvement," Victoria muttered under her breath and Lorelai and Rory glanced at her curiously. Her grandparents had called Lorelai much worse than rude.

"I thought you were going to Tristan's party," Rory said quietly to Victoria.

"I thought so, too," Victoria said, obviously not happy that she was at her grandparents' instead.

"You can't make me see my parents alone," Christopher said with a glance at Victoria.

"You're a big boy. You can handle it," Victoria told him.

"They like you better than they like me," Christopher said.

"That's only because I could still go to Princeton and be a lawyer," Victoria pointed out.

Lorelai looked at Victoria, frowning slightly in confusion. "I thought you wanted to go to USC."

"Don't say anything about USC to the grandparents," Victoria said quickly, looking alarmed.

"I don't understand. USC's a good school. I think they'd be happy," Rory said honestly.

Victoria laughed bitterly. "You don't know them."

"Lucky you," Christopher told Rory.

"They're going to find out at some point," Rory pointed out, "when you don't go to Princeton."

"I'm not going to get into Princeton," Victoria said calmly.

"You're smart. If you studied-"

"No, Rory, I don't want to get into Princeton," Victoria said flatly. She pasted a smile on her face when her grandparents walked into the living room with Emily and stood up. "Hello, Grandmother, Grandfather."

"Victoria," Straub said by way of greeting.

Francine gave Victoria a hug and then looked at her carefully. "That dress looks nice. Oh, Victoria, I thought you'd wear heels with that dress."

Victoria looked uncomfortable and shot her dad a pointed look. He got the message and stood up, taking the attention off Victoria.

"Hello, Mother, Pop." Christopher kissed Francine's cheek.

"Christopher," Straub said.

"Christopher, hello." Francine looked at him carefully and adjusted his jacket.

Lorelai stood up reluctantly. "Mr. and Mrs. Hayden, long time no see."

"Lorelai," Francine said politely. "You look well."

"I am, thanks." Lorelai glanced at Rory. "You remember Rory. You haven't seen her in quite awhile."

"I think she was just beginning to speak in complete sentences," Francine remembered.

"So not for two years then," Lorelai joked, however the Haydens looked somewhat less than amused. "She's obviously been talking a long time so I was making a humorous comment sometimes referred to as a joke."

"I see you haven't changed, Lorelai," Straub said, sounding supremely disappointed.

"Rory, hello," Francine said, finally looking at Rory.

"Hi," Rory said nervously. She stood up to shake Francine's hand, but ended up curtsying instead.

"Did you just curtsy?" Lorelai whispered, looking at Rory.

"Shut up," Rory muttered, embarrassed.

"Sorry, milady," Lorelai whispered.

"Uh, Straub, Francine, how about a martini?" Richard offered them drinks.

"Please," Straub said.

"We're very pleased about Christopher's business success out in California and his new job here," Richard said as he mixed drinks for Straub and Francine.

"Yes, it's taken awhile, but it seems to be finally coming together. Seems to be," Straub said skeptically.

Victoria glanced at her dad and then shot her grandfather a look. "Grandfather, he's working hard."

"Christopher, your tie please," Francine said to Christopher, who was loosening his tie.

"And are you working hard in school, young lady?" Straub asked Victoria.

"Yes, sir," Victoria responded.

"Because you need good grades to get into Princeton, you know. Every Hayden attended Princeton, including myself, except for your father," Straub said pointedly.

"I know," Victoria said with a sigh.

"Rory is an excellent student, very bright," Emily told Straub and Francine proudly. "She's going to Chilton with Victoria."

"You should have a talk with her, Straub. She could give you a run for your money," Richard said.

"Is that so?" Straub asked skeptically.

"That's right," Emily told him.

Straub looked at Rory, who shifted uncomfortably in her seat and looked away.

"Well, I think my money's safe," Straub said. "How old are you? Sixteen?"

"Yes," Rory replied.

"Dangerous age for girls," Straub commented and Lorelai shot him a look.

"Yes, well, we're almost seventeen. One more week and we're past that dangerous age," Victoria said dryly.

"Watch your tone, young lady," Straub scolded.

"Sorry, Grandfather," Victoria said quietly.

"I hate President Bush," Lorelai said suddenly, trying to take the heat off her daughters.

Victoria gave Lorelai a weird look and shook her head. Her grandparents didn't need another reason to hate Lorelai.

"What?" Straub said.

"Lorelai," Emily said in a disapproving tone.

Christopher exhaled sharply. "Oh boy."

"He's stupid and his face is too tiny for his head and I just want to toss him out," Lorelai continued.

"That is the leader of our country, young lady." Straub glared at Lorelai.

"Ignore her," Richard said.

"His face is too tiny for his head," Francine repeated. "What kind of a thing is that to say?"

"I see your daughter is just as out of control as ever," Straub said to Richard and then he turned to Christopher. "Tell me, what are you thinking letting _her_ have a relationship with Victoria?"

"Hey, Victoria's my daughter," Lorelai said, glaring at Straub.

"And it's abundantly clear that you're not qualified to raise a young lady when you've never been able to act like one," Straub said to Lorelai.

"Pop, please," Christopher pleaded, "let's try to keep it civil."

"I wouldn't give a damn about you derailing your life if you hadn't swept my son along with you," Straub continued, ignoring his son.

"Dad, come on," Christopher tried again.

Lorelai looked at Rory and Victoria. "Go into the next room. Go, go."

Rory hurried into the kitchen, glancing back at Victoria, who hesitated and then stayed seated. Victoria didn't know if Lorelai was talking to her or just Rory when she said to go in the other room. She didn't need Lorelai to protect her from it. She'd heard all of this before.

It had hurt the first time she heard it, but Victoria didn't let it bother her anymore. She knew her dad loved her. Her grandparents did, too, in their own way.

This wasn't about her and Rory. It was about her parents.

Her dad wouldn't defend himself against his parents. He never did. He would just sit there and take it. Victoria stayed in the living room because she knew he needed her there.

"I'm going to have to echo Christopher's call for civility here," Richard said after Rory left and they all realized Victoria wasn't planning on going anywhere. "A mutual mistake was made many years ago by these two, but they have come a long way since."

Straub scoffed at that. "A mutual mistake, Richard? This whole evening is ridiculous. We're supposed to sit here like one big, happy family and pretend that the damage that was done is over, gone? She had those babies and ended our son's future."

"Hey!" Lorelai said angrily.

"You seduced him into ruining his life," Straub said, blaming Lorelai for everything.

"You recant that, Straub!" Richard demanded, grabbing Straub's arm.

"You're spilling my drink," Straub said, looking at Richard's hand on his arm.

"You owe my daughter an apology," Richard told him.

"An apology? That's rich," Straub scoffed.

"How dare you? How dare you?" Richard yelled, grabbing Straub.

"Richard, what are you doing?" Emily asked, horrified.

"How dare you come into my house and insult my daughter?" Richard demanded.

"Let go of me!" Straub yelled.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, what is going on here?" Christopher said, standing up and getting in between Straub and Richard.

"This is like an episode of Jerry Springer," Victoria commented.

Lorelai looked at Victoria, having forgotten she was there for a moment with everything else going on. "What are you still doing here?"

"I'm here for moral support," Victoria told her.

"Honey, please go into the other room with Rory," Lorelai said softly. She didn't want Victoria to see this.

"Dad needs me here," Victoria told her quietly.

"Shame on you, Straub, for opening all this up again," Richard said to Straub.

"Get your purse, Francine," Straub said, ready to go. "We're leaving."

"You're not leaving. I'm kicking you out," Richard told him.

"You ok?" Victoria asked Christopher when the grandparents left and it was just her and her parents in the living room.

"I'm fine," Christopher told her. "You?"

"Yeah," Victoria said.

Lorelai looked at Victoria. "Are you really?"

Victoria nodded.

"Hey, you know everything they said was directed at me and not you and Rory, right?" Lorelai said.

Victoria looked at Lorelai. "You don't need to protect me. I'm sixteen. The same age you were when you got pregnant as Grandfather pointed out. And I wouldn't want to get pregnant."

"Well, that's a relief," Christopher said.

"It's no secret that it wasn't a planned pregnancy," Victoria continued. "It was a mistake."

"Hey, no regrets," Lorelai told Victoria, not liking what she was hearing. She didn't think of her daughters as a mistake.

"No, no regrets," Christopher agreed. "You know you're the bright spot in all the darkness."

Victoria smiled at her dad. "I love you, Dad."

"Love you, too, kid," Christopher said.

"You think you can get a ride?" Victoria asked him.

"That's right, your party," Christopher remembered. "Go."

"Thanks," Victoria said. "I'm just gonna say bye to Rory. Bye, Lorelai."

"Have fun," Lorelai told her, giving her a quick hug.

Christopher looked at Lorelai when Victoria left. "And you brought up Bush because…?"

"It seemed like a good idea at the time," Lorelai said. "Wow."

"Yeah," Christopher said with a sigh.

"I feel…sixteen," Lorelai said.

* * *

"You survived the war," Victoria said when she found Rory in the kitchen drinking a soda.

Rory nodded weakly.

"That wasn't about us. It was about Lorelai and Christopher," Victoria said.

"It was about them because they had us," Rory pointed out.

"Well, yeah," Victoria acknowledged. "Dad's parents didn't want Lorelai to have us."

"What?" Rory said, looking at Victoria in surprise and horror.

Victoria bit her bottom lip. "You mean, you didn't know?"

"No!" Rory told her.

"Well, they didn't want Lorelai to have us, but that has nothing to do with us. They didn't know us," Victoria said quickly.

"They don't even want to know me," Rory said quietly.

"That has nothing to do with you. It's really about Lorelai," Victoria told her. "I don't know if you noticed, but she's not exactly their favorite person."

"I noticed," Rory said.

"I know it's not right or fair, but they blame her for everything that's ever gone wrong in Dad's life," Victoria explained.

"Because she had us," Rory said.

Victoria nodded. "Yeah."

"But…why are they ok with you? I mean, we're twins," Rory pointed out.

Victoria sighed. "Lorelai didn't raise me. She raised you."

Victoria knew that her grandparents would feel the same way about her if Lorelai had raised her. But Lorelai hadn't raised her.

If she was being honest, her grandparents had practically raised her.

She was the kid they didn't have, their second chance to do it right.

She could still go to Princeton and take over Straub's law practice. And when that didn't happen, she'd be persona non grata with them.

"Oh," Rory muttered.

"I gotta get out of here. I'm going to Tristan's party. Are you sure you don't want to come?" Victoria asked.

Rory shot her a look. "To a party at Tristan's house? No."

* * *

"You look great," Christopher said sarcastically when he found Lorelai crying on the balcony outside her bedroom.

"Yeah, well, I look the way I feel, wise guy," Lorelai said, upset after a conversation with her father.

"That was….that was a memorable evening," Christopher said.

"Oh, yes, it was beautiful in there," Lorelai said sarcastically. "We should commemorate it with an oil painting or a severed head or something."

"Next time we get this group together we're gonna have to frisk for weapons," Christopher commented.

"Hand out gags," Lorelai suggested.

"Employ six individual cones of silence," Christopher said and Lorelai laughed. He looked around, remembering all the times they'd had out there. "Boy, the old balcony is still the same, isn't it?"

"In all it's beautiful away from them-ness," Lorelai agreed.

Christopher nodded. "Perfect hide out-totally private. We spent a lot of time out here."

"Sneaking Dad's telescope, scanning the sky for alien ships." Lorelai smiled.

"Never found any," Christopher said.

"Huh, imagine that," Lorelai said with a laugh. "And then when we were older, scanning the neighbors' houses for naked people."

"Found a couple of those," Christopher remembered.

"Mrs. Dominski undulating in her big fat underalls is forever carved into my brain," Lorelai said with a smile.

Christopher laughed. "And in mine." He pulled a tequila bottle out of his jacket and held it up. "Here's to Mrs. Dominski's underalls."

"Aw, you're holding out on me," Lorelai said.

Christopher took a drink and then offered her the bottle. "Take it."

He didn't have to tell her twice. She took the bottle.

"And in an effort to further chronicle this balcony's history, we are now in the immediate vicinity of the spot upon which was Victoria and Rory's initial emanations," Christopher remembered.

"Yes, we are," Lorelai said. "Here's to Rory and Victoria." She took a drink.

"They're the only good things I've ever done," Christopher told her.

"You did good with Victoria," Lorelai told him. "She's a great kid."

He looked at Lorelai and kissed her. He didn't know if it was the alcohol or being back there again or just Lorelai...but he still loved her.

* * *

"Hey, I thought you weren't coming," Tristan said when Victoria got to his house.

"Dinner with the grandparents ended early," Victoria said.

Tristan looked at her. "You don't look happy about that."

"I look like I just spent a lovely evening with my grandparents telling me that they wish I'd never been born," Victoria told him.

"I, for one, am glad you were born," Tristan said, leaning down to kiss her.

She could smell vodka on his breath and he tasted like Coke. "Did you start drinking without me?" Victoria asked.

"You said you weren't coming," Tristan reminded her.

Victoria just looked at him.

"I'll get you a drink," Tristan said, going into the kitchen. He returned a few minutes later with a cup for her.

"Thank you," Victoria said with a smile. She took a drink and looked around. "Are Louise and Madeline here?"

"I think I saw them going to the pool house with Ty and Daniel," Tristan told her.

"Already?" Victoria said with a laugh.

"Yeah," Tristan said. "And Paris already left."

"Alone?" Victoria said.

Tristan looked at her. "It's Paris."

"So alone," Victoria said.

"Yeah, why? Did you want to go home with her?" Tristan asked her teasingly.

"She's not really my type," Victoria told him.

Tristan looked at her with a grin. "Really? So what is your type?"

Victoria kissed him in answer to his question.

"I like you, too," Tristan said with a smile.

"Well, it's good to know you don't go around kissing girls you hate," Victoria said.

"No, only you, Victoria," Tristan told her.

Victoria looked surprised and unsure if she should believe him.

"What? You don't believe me?" Tristan said.

"Paris couldn't wait to tell me you were seeing three girls and I was fourth in line," Victoria told him, trying to sound like she didn't care.

"Ok, yes, I was dating three other girls, but not at the same time," Tristan said honestly.

"Well, yeah, because that would've been difficult," Victoria said dryly.

"And no one else since we started seeing each other," Tristan told her. "You are my girlfriend."

"You can't just decide I'm your girlfriend. You have to ask first," Victoria told him teasingly.

Tristan looked at her. "Victoria, will you be my girlfriend?"

Victoria smiled and nodded.

Tristan smiled at her and kissed her.

"You're such a good boyfriend. You're a good kisser and you're pretty," Victoria said with a smile.

Tristan pulled away and looked at her. "Pretty?"

"Pretty…hot," Victoria said. "Pretty hot."

"Better," Tristan told her.

* * *

"Wow, wow, wow," Lorelai said, putting her clothes back on.

Christopher looked at her. "You wigged?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm a little wigged," Lorelai told him.

"Why?" Christopher asked.

"Why? Are you kidding me?" Lorelai shot him a look. "This was not supposed to happen tonight. God! What were you guys even doing here, Christopher?"

"Emily invited my mother. My parents said they needed to see if you'd changed now that you're spending time with Victoria," Christopher told her. "I tried to get out of it, but…"

Lorelai looked at him pointedly. "Chris, you're an adult. Victoria is our daughter. You didn't have to come. No one held a gun to your head."

"So what are you doing here? You like your parents about as much as I like mine," Christopher pointed out.

"Less actually," Lorelai told him. "They're paying for Chilton and they would only give me money for Rory's school if we came to Friday night dinners."

Christopher sighed. "My parents are paying for Victoria's school."

"My mom did this," Lorelai said angrily. "I told her not to do this and she didn't listen and it was Chernobyl and the Hindenburg combined."

"But you and me...it was great," Christopher said, looking at her.

"Oh God! Oh, I can't believe this!" Lorelai exclaimed, unable to believe this night was happening.

Personally, she didn't think it was so great.

He'd loved her when she was sixteen and staying out all night partying. He still loved her, but he didn't know her anymore. She'd changed. She'd grown up. He was still the same old Christopher. Irresponsible and immature.

He wasn't ready for a relationship with her. He just thought he was.

"What did our having sex mean to you?" Christopher asked.

"It meant that Jose Cuervo still has amazing magical powers," Lorelai told him.

"You're funny," Christopher said sarcastically, a little hurt.

"We can't do this, Christopher," Lorelai said.

"Ok, fine," Christopher said. "You know what? We should go."

"Yeah, we should go like thirty minutes ago," Lorelai said.

Christopher sighed. "I'm sorry."

"Oh, don't apologize. It was the both of us," Lorelai said as they left the balcony. "God, my parents have got to seal these windows up. I swear to God…"

* * *

"So where were you guys?" Rory wondered from the back of her mom's Jeep.

"Nowhere," Lorelai said.

"Where's nowhere?" Rory asked.

"Where we were," Christopher said.

"Mm hmm," Lorelai agreed.

"Ah," Rory said, realizing they weren't going to tell her where they were and that she could guess why.

"Good night, Rory," Christopher said when Lorelai parked in front of his building. "Good night, Lor."

"Good night, Dad," Rory replied.

"Good night," Lorelai said with a sigh.

_A/N: This doesn't mean there won't be more Christopher/Lorelai—there will be. It just means they're not ready to be together right now. I like Christopher. I know it's an unpopular opinion, but I actually wanted them to end up together on the show._

_Thank you to everyone who is reading. I'd love to hear what you think._


	7. My Mother is Dating My Teacher

Chapter Seven: My Mother is Dating My Teacher

"Shouldn't you be baking?" Rory asked, panicking slightly when she saw her mom sitting at the kitchen table drinking coffee on the morning of the Chilton bake sale.

"I don't know. Shouldn't you be knitting?" Lorelai said.

"Mom! The Chilton bake sale is today!" Rory reminded her.

"I know. I got it covered," Lorelai said calmly.

"They expect the things to be homemade," Rory told her.

"I know," Lorelai said.

Rory looked at Lorelai pointedly. "By someone other than Dolly Madison."

"I said I have it covered," Lorelai told her.

"All of the parents pitch in so this is really, really important. You know that, right?" Rory said, worried. She knew her mom had no culinary skills whatsoever.

"No, I didn't know that. In that case, I don't have it covered. I have it covered!" Lorelai told her for what felt like the hundredth time.

"Wait, do you have it covered for me and Victoria?" Rory wondered.

"No, I offered, but Francine has her covered," Lorelai said quietly.

"My other grandparents are going to be there?" Rory said unhappily.

"Just Francine and I'm not any happier about it than you are," Lorelai told her. "Now get your stuff and hit the stereo. We're late."

"It's not me," Rory told Lorelai softly, opening the door to her room, where Lane was dancing.

"Where does your mother think you are?" Lorelai asked Lane.

Lane turned off the music and looked at Lorelai. "On a park bench contemplating the reunification of the two Koreas."

"Not here, skanking to Rancid?" Lorelai said.

"Wouldn't be included," Lane told her.

"School!" Lorelai ordered.

* * *

"What are you wearing, Victoria?" Francine said, giving her granddaughter a disapproving look when Victoria joined her at their table for the Chilton bake sale.

"My uniform," Victoria said, cringing slightly.

She was wearing her Chilton uniform, but she'd hemmed her skirts immediately after her grandmother bought them for her. Of course she didn't think her grandmother would show up at school when she decided to hem them…a lot.

"Your skirt," Francine said critically, noticing that it was shorter. "Well, it must have shrunk in the wash."

Victoria looked away. "Yeah, it must have."

"Well, we can get you some new skirts," Francine told her with a smile, thinking she was being nice. "And Maria will do your laundry if you bring it by the house."

"Thanks," Victoria said, smiling weakly.

"You need some longer shirts, too," France told her.

Victoria sighed. "The shirts are fine."

She pulled her shirt down. It fit her fine. It just moved up, showing her stomach, when she moved.

"We don't mind buying you clothes that fit," Francine said.

"I know," Victoria said wearily.

"Excuse me," Tristan said to Victoria. "Could you help me with my cupcakes? I'm not sure if they have the right amount of frosting. There's a fine line between too little frosting and too much frosting, you know."

"You don't want too much frosting," Victoria said. "Then they're too sweet."

"Exactly," Tristan said. "Come on."

"I'll be right back, Grandmother," Victoria told Francine, hurrying away with Tristan. "My hero! You saved me," she said to Tristan.

Tristan smiled. "You looked annoyed."

"I bypassed annoyed after five minutes with her," Victoria told him. "There are no cupcakes, are there?"

"Nothing gets past you," Tristan said. "So why didn't you introduce me to your grandmother?"

"Uh, because I actually like you," Victoria responded.

"Is she really that bad?" Tristan asked.

Her grandmother wasn't actually _that_ bad, but she'd been worse than usual since the dinner with the Haydens and Gilmores. Victoria knew her grandparents were afraid that she'd repeat her parents' mistakes and seeing Lorelai certainly hadn't helped.

Victoria nodded. "Yes."

"Parents like me. You didn't think your dad would like me and he did," Tristan reminded her.

"Yeah, but, that was my dad," Victoria said. "Just trust me on this, you don't want to meet my grandparents. I'm doing you a favor here."

"Then I should thank you," Tristan said, then he kissed her.

"Mm. You're welcome," Victoria told him with a contented sigh.

* * *

"I can't. It's wrong. It's weird," Lorelai said after Max asked her out on a date. Sookie and Rory were manning the Gilmore table at the bake sale.

Lorelai knew Rory would freak at the thought of her dating her teacher. And she didn't know what Victoria would do.

"I'll pay," Max said.

Oh, well in that case… "You're on," Lorelai said dryly.

"Really?" Max asked.

"I'm kidding," Lorelai told him. "I don't know. You're my kids' teacher."

"I know," Max said.

"Could you quit?" Lorelai said and he looked at her. "Right, that's crazy."

"Ok, ok, um, how about coffee?" Max suggested. "You like coffee?"

"Only with my oxygen," Lorelai told him.

"Can we drink some together? A sort of pre-date. Very casual. No strings. No obligations. We'll just see if it's even worth going down the road of including food in the deal. Just coffee. Decaf. There's nothing safer than decaf," Max tried to convince her.

"I'm going to be in town tomorrow because I take a class at Hartford State and there's a coffee shop across the street that I sometimes, almost all the time, go to around 4:00 and usually exactly 4:12. I could not stop a person from entering said establishment around that time, nor would I avoid them if I knew them and they did," Lorelai said finally.

"You know the wordsmith thing? That's something we have in common," Max told her with a smile.

Lorelai saw Victoria and Tristan making out and frowned. Did they ever come up for air? "I gotta go. See you around, Max."

"Indeed. You will," Max told her, planning on being at the coffee shop at 4:12.

* * *

"So he's not your boyfriend, huh?" Lorelai asked Victoria after Tristan finally pulled himself away from her.

Victoria watched Tristan walk away with a smile on her face. "He's my boyfriend now."

"Really? When did this happen?" Lorelai inquired.

Last time they'd talked about Tristan, Victoria had denied that he was her boyfriend.

"Friday," Victoria responded.

"Friday. Wow. A lot has changed since Tuesday," Lorelai commented.

"Yep," Victoria said.

"Does your dad know?" Lorelai wondered.

Victoria looked at Lorelai. "Are you gonna tell him?"

"I'm not going to lie to him," Lorelai said honestly.

Victoria raised an eyebrow. "In the highly unlikely event that he asks you if I have a boyfriend?"

Lorelai smiled weakly and Victoria had her answer.

"Right," Victoria said. "I'm gonna tell him today."

"Good plan," Lorelai told her.

"He's met Tristan. He likes him," Victoria told Lorelai.

"Does he now?" Lorelai said evenly.

"He does," Victoria said.

"I want to meet him," Lorelai told her.

"No," Victoria said promptly.

"Come on," Lorelai said.

"Not gonna happen. I should get back to my grandmother," Victoria said, wanting to get away from Lorelai without introducing her to Tristan.

* * *

"You know Tristan?" Victoria said to her dad later that night as she made dinner.

"Uh, yeah," Christopher said, having a feeling he knew where this was headed. He'd known where it was headed the minute he saw Tristan in his daughter's room.

"He's my boyfriend now," Victoria told him.

"When did this happen?" Christopher asked, not really surprised.

"On Friday," Victoria replied.

"At the party. Right," Christopher said.

"Right," Victoria said.

"Ok, well, I liked him," Christopher told her.

Victoria nodded. "I know."

* * *

"Lorelai?" Max said, pretending to be surprised to see her in the coffee shop the next day.

"Max! Hi!" Lorelai greeted him enthusiastically.

"Small world, huh?" Max said.

"Absolutely!" Lorelai agreed. "What are you drinking?"

"Coffee," Max replied.

"Plain coffee?" Lorelai asked.

"I wanted some cream, but that prompted a very elaborate foam conversation and the look of disapproval I got when I said I didn't want foam, just cream, rivaled the one I got from my dad when I told him I wanted to be a teacher," Max told her.

"Wow, so it's been a tough outing for you, huh?" Lorelai said.

"Well, it's getting better," Max told her.

"What can I get you?" The barista asked Lorelai.

"Coffee, please," Lorelai ordered.

"So here we are," Max commented.

"Here we most certainly are," Lorelai said.

"Running into each other," Max said.

"Away from the school," Lorelai said.

"And it's unique strictures," Max added.

"These things do happen," Lorelai stated.

"Fate can be funny," Max mused.

"Should we cut the cute and just get right to it?" Lorelai asked.

"I think we should date," Max said.

"Why?" Lorelai wondered.

"Because I think we both want to," Max said honestly.

"Well, I want to be in the Bangles, but that doesn't mean I quit my job and get a guitar and ruin my life to be a Bangle, does it?" Lorelai said.

"The Bangles broke up," Max pointed out.

"Yeah, that's not the point," Lorelai told him.

"Well, it's got to be part of the point if there's no band anymore," Max said.

"I repeat my question—why should we date?" Lorelai asked him.

"Because we're clearly attracted to each other," Max responded.

"I'm attracted to pie. It doesn't mean I feel the need to date pie," Lorelai told him.

"Ok then because we are…"

Lorelai raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"

"Of similar heights," Max said weakly.

"Wow! Round one and already tapped," Lorelai said triumphantly.

"Look, I know that you are concerned about the appearance of us dating," Max said.

"Yes, I am," Lorelai told him.

"Well, I can tell you that I am the soul of discretion when it comes to delicate relationships," Max told her.

Lorelai looked at him. "Dated a lot of Chilton moms, huh?"

"No, I meant any relationship—work, family," Max explained.

"Oh, so you have things to hide in all aspects of your life? Very interesting," Lorelai commented.

"Do you have any hemlock back there? Arsenic? Something quick?" Max said to the barista.

"Do you like rap music?" Lorelai wondered.

"Yeah," Max replied.

"Me, too," Lorelai said. "Italian food?"

"Yeah," Max said again.

"Me, too. You just telling me what I want to hear?" Lorelai said knowingly.

"Yeah," Max admitted.

"I knew it!" Lorelai exclaimed.

"Doesn't mean it doesn't coincide with how I really feel," Max said.

"Yeah, but if you're telling me what you think I want to hear then I'm not really getting to know you," Lorelai pointed out.

"And if I know what you want to hear that shows a level of understanding on my part that far exceeds your understanding of me," Max pointed out. "Who's the one lagging?"

"Uh…"

"Wow, round one and already tapped!" Max said, looking at her triumphantly.

Lorelai's eyes widened when she noticed Victoria standing in the entrance to the coffee shop.

It looked like Victoria was going to dance. She was wearing a thin black hooded sweatshirt over a stretchy red top with black jazz pants. She had her dance bag over her shoulder.

Her hair was pulled back and she wasn't wearing make-up, making her look more like Rory than she normally did.

Victoria locked eyes with Lorelai. She had been watching Lorelai flirt with her teacher for a minute now.

She recognized flirting when she saw it…the banter, the smiling, the laughing. She narrowed her eyes at them and then walked right past Lorelai to get in line without saying anything.

"Excuse me," Lorelai said to Max, standing up.

"You're leaving," Max said dejectedly.

"No, I'm just gonna go talk to her real quick and I'll be right back," Lorelai told him.

Max looked over and saw Victoria standing in line. "Oh."

"Hey, fancy meeting you here," Lorelai said to Victoria nervously, not really knowing how Victoria would react to seeing her there with Max.

"You mean here in the closest coffee shop to my apartment?" Victoria said pointedly.

"Uh-huh," Lorelai said, feeling stupid for not thinking about the proximity of the coffee shop to Christopher's apartment.

"Well, next time you're looking for a place to have a secret rendezvous with my teacher, you might want to stay out of Hartford," Victoria suggested.

"Noted," Lorelai told her.

"So, what, there aren't any guys in Stars Hollow?" Victoria asked.

"No, there's guys in Stars Hollow," Lorelai said.

"And you couldn't date one of them?" Victoria wondered.

"Max and I are not dating," Lorelai said quickly.

Victoria raised an eyebrow. "Max?"

"It's not a date," Lorelai insisted.

Victoria just shot Lorelai a look of disbelief.

"It's coffee," Lorelai said, but Victoria didn't look like she was buying it. Lorelai sighed. "Ok, it's, uh, sort of a pre-date."

"Did you tell him that I'm your daughter? You did, didn't you?" Victoria said worriedly.

"Well, yeah, but I think he already knew. See, you and Rory are twins and you're both in his class, so…"

"I didn't want anyone to know," Victoria said quietly.

"What? Why?" Lorelai said, frowning.

"Well, let's see-I didn't know Rory was my twin when she transferred so everyone will think I'm a big, fat liar and then there's you…"

Lorelai looked at her. "What about me?"

Victoria stared at Lorelai. "You came to school dressed like Daisy Duke and you're dating my teacher."

She didn't want to hurt Lorelai. Well, maybe she wanted to hurt Lorelai a little bit.

She was upset that Lorelai was dating her teacher. But mainly she just didn't want everyone at school to know. Paris would have a field day with it.

Lorelai looked hurt. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize I was such an embarrassment."

"Can you just please make sure he doesn't tell anyone?" Victoria asked.

"Fine," Lorelai said with a hint of frustration in her voice.

"Fine," Victoria said, turning away from Lorelai so she was looking straight ahead instead of at Lorelai.

"Victoria," Lorelai said, wanting her daughter to talk to her. She didn't want to leave things like that. Victoria didn't look at her.

"Victoria!" A brown-haired teenager who was dressed like Victoria exclaimed from the entrance of the coffee shop. "What are you doing?

Victoria finally looked at Lorelai, but only to send her a warning look and then she turned around to face Emma. "I need coffee."

"You're going to be late," Emma told her.

"I can't help it. It's an addiction," Victoria said. "I'll be two minutes late and much happier. Paula won't care."

"Mary's teaching class today," Emma informed her.

"Great," Victoria said sarcastically, leaving in a hurry without ordering or saying goodbye to Lorelai.

"I knew it. I knew they'd freak out," Lorelai said as she sat back down next to Max.

"They're not little girls anymore," Max said.

"Don't say that," Lorelai told him.

"You could try stunting their growth, keeping them in a box, blowing cigarette smoke on them," Max suggested with a smile, then he turned serious. "Ok, when my uncle was a young man, there was this girl who lived across the street from him and he was completely in love with her, but he never talked to her. But he knew in his gut that this was the girl he wanted to spend the rest of his life with."

"This is gonna be sad, isn't it?" Lorelai asked.

"Let me finish," Max said.

"It's gonna be sad," Lorelai said knowingly.

"So, anyhow, my uncle watches this girl, waiting for the right moment to approach her. Next thing he knows, he gets drafted," Max continued.

"Oh, going for the Kleenex," Lorelai commented.

"No. Now he thinks, this is perfect, I'll come back, I'll have a career, I'll have served my country, I'll be worthy of her love. When he gets back, she's gone. Moved away. No one knew where and he never saw that girl again. Now my uncle, he didn't say much to me, but the one thing he did say was that if there's something in your gut that you know you feel is right, you gotta go after it, no matter what," Max told her. "What do you say?"

Lorelai sighed, took a business card out of her purse and wrote her home phone number on it. "Maybe dinner wouldn't be so bad."

"Dinner? You mean we could sit together? Even drive together?" Max said.

Lorelai tossed the card at him. "Just take the card."

"I might frame the card," Max told her.

"Just use the card," Lorelai said, standing up. "Oh, and I'm supposed to ask you not to tell anyone that Victoria is my daughter and Rory's twin."

"I'll be the picture of discretion," Max assured her.

Lorelai looked at him. "Do people really not know they're twins?"

"They really don't," Max told her.

"So, what, everyone thinks it's just a strange coincidence that Rory looks exactly like Victoria?" Lorelai said.

"Lorelai, they have different last names. When Rory started Chilton, they didn't act like they knew each other," Max pointed out.

"They didn't know each other," Lorelai said quietly.

* * *

Lorelai walked into the dance studio, looking for her daughter. She wanted to explain things to Victoria.

There was a ballet class in the first studio. Little girls wearing black leotards and pink tights were warming up at the barre. Victoria was definitely not in that class.

Lorelai looked in the next studio and saw Victoria stretching out on the floor. There were two other moms watching and Lorelai walked over to where they were standing.

"Look at Brooke," one mom said critically. "I don't know what Paula was thinking letting her in the advanced class."

"Oh, I know. She's too heavy," the second mom agreed.

"They need to put her in the back for competition," the first mom said.

"Allison, Mallory, and Victoria will be in the front. They always are," the second mom said.

Lorelai looked over at the other moms when she heard her daughter's name.

"Victoria's not doing Company this year," the first mom informed the second mom.

"What? Why?" The second mom asked.

The first mom looked at the second mom. "Didn't you hear about her dad and Mary?"

The second mom looked interested. "No. What happened?"

"She was dating him and they broke up. He's younger, you know," the first mom told the second mom. "She thought he was the one."

Christopher had dated Victoria's dance teacher and, judging from what these women were saying, it hadn't ended well. That explained a lot. _No wonder Victoria didn't want her dating Max_, Lorelai thought.

"Uh, hi, excuse me, what's Company?" Lorelai asked them.

They looked at her like she was a moron. "Who are you?"

"Oh, I'm Victoria's mom," Lorelai told them.

"I thought Victoria lived with her dad," the first mom said.

"Oh, well, she does," Lorelai said awkwardly.

"I've never seen you here before," the second mom commented.

"Well, it's my first time. I'm a virgin," Lorelai told her. "So what's Company?"

"The studio's elite dancers are all on Company. They dance in competitions," the second mom explained. "My daughter, Emma, is on Company."

"Yes, so is my Mallory," the first mom said proudly.

"Right," Lorelai said.

* * *

"Victoria," Mary called Victoria over as the girls left after dance class.

Victoria walked over to Mary slowly and stood in front of her with her arms crossed in front of her chest. "What?"

"You need to be on time," Mary told her.

"Ok," Victoria said flatly.

"Ten push-ups," Mary told her.

Victoria stared at Mary in disbelief. Paula would never have made her do ten push-ups for being two minutes late.

Victoria didn't want Mary to know it was bothering her, though, so she shrugged and dropped to the floor begrudgingly to do the ten push-ups.

"What was wrong with you today?" Mary asked. "You kept messing up the pirouettes. I know you can do a clean triple."

"I don't know. I guess you should send me back to Jazz I," Victoria said dryly. Jazz I was the class for beginners. She was in the advanced class and had been in the advanced class since she was ten.

Mary glared at her and opened her mouth to respond, but, before she could, Lorelai interrupted.

"Excuse me, hi," Lorelai said, not wanting to watch Mary give her kid a hard time anymore. Mary had been horrible to Victoria during class.

Victoria shot Lorelai a look. "Lorelai! What are you doing here?"

Mary turned to look at Lorelai with interest. "Lorelai?"

Victoria sighed. "Yes, Lorelai, Mary. Mary, Lorelai. I, uh, have to go." Victoria grabbed Lorelai's hand and pulled her out of the dance studio.

"So that was Mary? She was, uh…"

"A bitch," Victoria finished for Lorelai. She took her jazz shoes off and put them in her dance bag.

"Well, yeah," Lorelai said.

That was exactly what Lorelai was thinking, but she was still surprised Victoria said it. Rory never talked like that.

"Come on, I'll buy you a coffee," Lorelai said as they walked out of the dance studio.

They both ordered black coffee and sat down across from each other.

"Why did you quit Company?" Lorelai asked.

Victoria narrowed her eyes at Lorelai. "How do you even know I did Company?"

"Emma's mom and Mallory's mom," Lorelai said honestly. "They said you quit because your dad and Mary broke up."

Victoria rolled her eyes. "They don't know why I quit."

"Ok, so why did you?" Lorelai asked.

"Do you even know what Company is?" Victoria wondered.

"Oh, it's the elite dancers. They dance in competitions," Lorelai said proudly.

"They rehearse all the time," Victoria told her. "You can't do Company and do anything else."

"But you did Company until your dad and Mary broke up," Lorelai pointed out.

"That was before I was on Chilton's dance team," Victoria said.

"Ok, so it has nothing to do with your dad and Mary, right?" Lorelai said, not wanting Victoria to miss out on something she loved because of Christopher's love life.

"Do I like going to class when she's teaching? No," Victoria said honestly. "She was ready to start planning their wedding and Dad's longest relationship has been five months. It didn't work out. He dumped her and she takes it out on me. That's not why I quit, though. I wanted to do Chilton's dance team and there's no way I could do both. I wanted to go out on Friday night and not have rehearsal bright and early on Saturday. I wanted to have a life outside of dance."

"Ok," Lorelai said. "This thing with your dance teacher explains why you didn't want me to date your teacher."

Victoria nodded.

"I'm sorry. I won't date him," Lorelai told her. "It's just…I really like him."

Victoria sighed. "You can do whatever you want. Don't let me stop you."

She could tell Lorelai really liked Max. She didn't want to be the reason Lorelai didn't date him.

"I would never do anything to hurt you or Rory," Lorelai told her.

"How does Rory feel about it?" Victoria asked.

"Uh, I haven't told her yet," Lorelai said.

"Well, good luck with that," Victoria said dryly. She paused for a second. "If Rory's ok with it, I'm ok with it."

"Are you really?" Lorelai asked skeptically.

"Yeah," Victoria said.

She really wasn't and she was hoping Rory wouldn't be either. She knew it would affect Rory more than it would affect her. Rory had more of a right to say something than she did.

* * *

Lorelai hadn't really been planning on telling Rory about Max, but she knew she had to now. It would be worse if Victoria said something and she hadn't told Rory.

"You know your English teacher?" Lorelai said as she and Rory ate pizza that night.

Rory gave her mom a weird look. "I'm a little behind in school, but not so far behind that I don't know who the teacher is."

"Right. Well, he and I were going to, uh, sort of hang out together," Lorelai said, watching Rory warily.

Rory looked at her mom. "Hang out— you're going on a date with my teacher!"

Lorelai winced. "Are you mad?"

"Yes! No. I don't know," Rory said. "It's just…it's weird. Really weird."

"You think I don't get the weirdness factor? Believe me, the last thing I intended to do was date your teacher," Lorelai said honestly.

"He teaches me things every day in a very small classroom with a lot of other kids who probably won't be high-fiving me when they find this out," Rory pointed out unhappily.

"I know, sweetie, and I told him this was one of the things I was concerned about," Lorelai told her.

"And?" Rory said pointedly.

"And he thought we could be discreet," Lorelai said.

Rory looked at her mom in disbelief.

"Listen, I really like him, Rory. I can't help it. And it's been a really long time since I've felt like this. You can't always control who you're attracted to, you know," Lorelai told her. "I think the whole Angelina Jolie/Billy Bob Thornton thing really proves that."

"There's a million guys in this world and you end up with Mr. Medina," Rory said quietly, trying to process it.

"I know," Lorelai said. "I won't date him unless you're ok with it."

"I'm not saying that you can't date him," Rory told her.

"Ok. So I'm officially dating your teacher?" Lorelai clarified.

"My mother is dating my teacher," Rory said.


	8. Books, Invitations and Lies

Chapter Eight: Books, Invitations and Lies

"Ok, so I hear you like books," Christopher said, walking into Stars Hollow Books with Rory. They'd just had their weekly dinner. It had been in Stars Hollow this time.

"Why, yes I do," Rory responded.

"Well, I would like you to pick something out and let me buy it for you," Christopher told her.

"Dad, you don't have to buy me anything," Rory told him.

"Your birthday's on Friday. Rumor has it that it's customary to give people a present on their birthday. I've got a lot of birthdays to make up for," Christopher said, feeling bad that he hadn't been around for any of her other birthdays.

"No, you don't," Rory said sincerely.

Her mom had always been honest with her about the agreement they'd made regarding custody. Rory understood. She wasn't mad at her dad for not being there. She was just happy that he was there now.

Rory didn't think Victoria was as understanding as she was. Victoria still didn't call Lorelai mom and Rory knew it hurt her mom. She didn't want to hurt her dad.

"Yes, I do," Christopher said seriously. "What's the book of your dreams right now?"

"Well, that would definitely be the Compact Oxford English Dictionary, but, Dad-"

"Excuse me," Christopher said to Andrew, "one Compact Oxford English Dictionary please."

"Ok," Andrew said, going to get the book for them.

"Dad, no, it costs a fortune," Rory protested.

"Come on, let me give you something. I want to do this. Nothing would make me happier," Christopher said.

"Well, ok," Rory said with a smile.

Andrew brought the book out and Christopher stared at it. It was so big. "Holy mother. This is the monolith from 2001."

"It has every word recorded in the English language plus origins and earliest usage," Rory informed him.

"You sure you wouldn't rather have a car? They weigh about the same," Christopher teased her with a grin, continually amazed by how his daughters could look so alike yet be so different. He shook his head and handed his credit card to Andrew. "Here you go."

"This is nice of you," Rory said.

"Um, I'm sorry, Christopher, your credit card has been rejected," Andrew said apologetically.

"Rejected? What are you talking about?" Christopher said, surprised and embarrassed.

He shouldn't have been surprised. His start-up company didn't get picked up in California, he'd moved, put down a security deposit and first and last months' rent on the apartment in Hartford, and had a few weeks where he wasn't working before he lined up the consulting job.

He'd been using his credit card for everything. _He'd reached the limit on the card_, Christopher realized.

It would take him a few months at his new job with a steady check before he was back on his feet and then everything would be fine. But now…he couldn't even buy his kid a birthday present. Rory probably thought he was the biggest loser in the world.

"I could run it through again if you'd like," Andrew offered.

"Yes," Rory said quickly, thinking it must have been a mistake.

"Uh, no, he doesn't need to run it through again," Christopher said quietly.

"Oh, ok," Rory said softly.

"Could you maybe hold that for us?" Christopher asked. "I'll come back tomorrow with another card."

"Sure, Chris, no problem," Andrew told him.

"Thanks. Come on," Christopher said to Rory, leaving the store feeling like a loser. "Now, you'll really remember this birthday."

"I didn't want it that much anyways," Rory lied, not wanting him to feel bad.

"Hey, listen, don't tell your mom about this, ok?" Christopher said.

"Ok," Rory said, a little uncomfortable. She didn't lie to her mom. It was her mom. She told her mom everything.

* * *

"So Andrew from Stars Hollow Books called," Lorelai said to Rory later that night after Christopher and Victoria had left. She'd been waiting for Rory to tell her what happened, but Rory had started getting ready for bed without saying anything.

"He did?" Rory said quietly.

"Yeah, and Jackson and the UPS guy and, oh, it was the lead story on the Stars Hollow web page." Lorelai looked at Rory. "You should've told me."

"I know," Rory said guiltily.

"Ok, so why didn't you?" Lorelai asked, sitting down on Rory's bed.

"Because Dad didn't want me to," Rory said honestly.

"Unbelievable," Lorelai muttered more to herself than to Rory. She couldn't believe Christopher had actually asked her kid to lie to her.

"Don't be mad at Dad," Rory pleaded. "He really wanted to get me something. He said he had a lot of birthdays to make up for and he felt awful. I could tell."

Lorelai sighed and looked at Rory. "I know he's your dad and you wanted to keep his secret, but, honey, I need to know these things."

"I know," Rory said.

* * *

"Happy birthday," Tristan said from behind Victoria as she got her books out of her locker at school.

Victoria gave him a weird look and laughed. "My birthday's not until Friday."

"I know," Tristan said, reading from an invitation. "On Friday at four-o-three in the morning and four-o-nine in the morning, Emily and Richard Gilmore were blessed with Lorelai Leigh and Victoria Christine."

"What is that?" Victoria demanded, a sinking feeling in her stomach.

She took the invitation from his hands and read it quickly. It was an invitation to a birthday party for her and Rory at Emily and Richard Gilmore's house on Friday.

"Twins," Tristan said, sounding half-sarcastic.

"Yeah, but-"

"I mean, you and Mary look like twins," Tristan continued without giving her a chance to explain. "I thought so the first time I saw her." There was a hint of anger in his voice.

"I know," Victoria acknowledged, knowing everyone would think she'd lied.

"I didn't think she _was_ your twin. It seems like something my girlfriend would have told me," Tristan said pointedly.

"This isn't about you," Victoria told him.

Tristan stared at her. "You didn't tell me you had a twin, you won't introduce me to your grandmother, you only introduced me to your dad because he came home early. It's about me."

"It isn't," Victoria insisted.

"I mean, do you even like me?" Tristan demanded.

"Yes, I like you!" Victoria told him.

Tristan sighed. "You should have told me. I thought you really liked me."

He walked away from her without looking back. As she watched him leave, Louise, Madeline, and Paris walked over to her, having watched the scene with Tristan unfold.

"I got an invitation to your birthday party—yours and Rory's," Paris announced.

Victoria sighed. "It's not my birthday party."

"Not according to the invitation," Paris said smugly.

"My party is at Madeline's house. There won't be any adults at my party unless, of course, the cops are called," Victoria told her.

"Oh, yeah," Madeline said.

"Tristan and his hot friends and Madeline's stepfather's liquor cabinet. Now that's my kind of party," Louise commented with a smile.

"So this is why you're buddy buddy with Rory?" Paris demanded.

"Because she's my sister? Why, yes, that is why I'm buddy buddy with her," Victoria said in an irritated tone.

"She's really your sister?" Madeline inquired.

"Yes, Rory's really her sister," Paris said impatiently. "We all saw the invitations."

"You're so different," Louise said softly.

"Well, she was raised by our mom and I was raised by our dad," Victoria said.

"Nature versus nurture," Paris said.

"When did you find out about your long-lost twin?" Louise asked Victoria curiously.

"My dad didn't tell me until after she'd already started Chilton," Victoria said honestly.

"I can't believe you didn't tell me," Louise said, sounding betrayed. "You're my best friend."

This was all because of that stupid invitation. Victoria didn't even understand how Emily and Richard could just have a birthday party for her without even asking her.

Victoria walked over to Rory's desk and thrust the invitation at her. "What is this?"

"I don't know," Rory said, not understanding why Victoria was mad. She picked up the invitation and read it, then gasped. "What is this?"

"An invitation to a birthday party for us at your grandparents' house," Victoria said.

"Hey, they're _our_ grandparents," Rory reminded her.

"Did you know about this?" Victoria demanded.

"I knew they were having a party for me," Rory said, frowning in confusion.

"Well, I didn't," Victoria said. "And now everyone knows we're twins and-"

"Wait, what?" Rory asked.

"Everyone knows we're twins," Victoria said, "and Tristan thinks I lied on your first day when I told them him he was crazy for thinking you looked like you could be my twin and Paris is having a field day with this and my best friend is mad at me."

"Tristan? Paris? Everyone?" Rory said, making a face. She didn't want any of them at her birthday party. The only one from Chilton she wanted there was Victoria.

"Yes, Rory, everyone," Victoria said flatly.

Rory stared at Victoria in horror. "Everyone in our class got one of these?"

Victoria looked at Rory and nodded slowly.

"I can't believe she just invited everyone from Chilton," Rory muttered, not sounding any happier about it than Victoria felt.

"We're talking about Emily, right?" Victoria clarified, trying to figure out who she needed be mad at.

Rory nodded dully.

"Do you think Lorelai knows that she did this?" Victoria asked.

"No. Mom would be really mad if she knew," Rory told her.

"Well, she can join the club," Victoria said.

"Can I be President?" Rory asked.

"No, I'm President. You can be Vice President," Victoria said. "Listen, I gotta get out of here."

"What? You can't just leave. Class is starting in one minute," Rory pointed out.

"And I need to get out of here before class starts," Victoria told her.

* * *

Victoria called her dad from her car as she drove home. "Dad, can you call me in today?"

"Why? What's wrong? Where are you?" Christopher asked, worried.

It wasn't unusual for Victoria to ask him to call her in from school. She got good grades so he didn't see the harm in it. Sometimes he would join her and they'd just take the day off and do something fun. But she usually didn't go to school and then ask if he could call her in…

"I'm fine," Victoria assured him. "I just…I can't be there right now. I'm going home."

"What's wrong?" Christopher asked again.

"Emily Gilmore. That's what's wrong," Victoria said in a biting tone.

Christopher grinned, thinking that she sounded exactly like Lorelai. "You sound like your mom."

"Apparently she's having a birthday party for Rory and me on Friday," Victoria told him.

"I thought your party was at Madeline's," Christopher said, frowning in confusion.

"It was. It is," Victoria told him.

"So we'll tell Emily you're already having a party. If you don't want to go to Emily's party, you don't have to," Christopher told her.

"She already sent out invitations," Victoria informed him.

"She didn't," Christopher said, not all that surprised.

"To everyone at Chilton," Victoria continued.

"They were going to come to your party at Madeline's, right?" Christopher said, knowing it was too late to get out of Emily's party now.

"Yes, but that was _my_ party," Victoria said.

"So this is a party for you and Rory. If I know you, you'll still have fun. Come on, you can sneak booze from Richard's liquor cabinet just like your mom and I did when we were your age," Christopher said teasingly, trying to cheer his daughter up.

"Only if I want to drink alone," Victoria said quietly.

"What are you talking about?" Christopher asked. "I thought your friends were coming."

"Yeah, well, I think Tristan and I broke up and Louise is mad at me," Victoria told him.

"Do I need to find Tristan and kill him?" Christopher wondered.

"No," Victoria said quickly. "It's not his fault. He's mad because I lied to him."

"Ok," Christopher said, though he still wanted to kill Tristan.

"They all said Rory looked like me when she started Chilton and I didn't tell them we were twins because I didn't know and then I didn't know how to tell them and now I've ruined everything," Victoria blurted out, obviously upset.

Christopher sighed. "I'm sorry. I should've told you about Rory."

"I'm not mad at you," Victoria said honestly. She had been mad at him, but she'd gotten over it. "I'm mad at Emily. God, this sucks."

"What do you want? You want to transfer schools? Move again?" Christopher offered, hating that his daughter was this upset and knowing it was partially his fault.

Victoria was quiet for a few seconds, considering. A part of her wanted to take him up on his offer and move, start over at a new school where everyone didn't think she was a big liar and her family drama wasn't a hot topic, but she knew she wouldn't be able to see her mom and her sister if they moved. She was just getting to know them and she didn't want to lose them.

"No," Victoria said finally, sounding conflicted. "But thanks for offering."

"Let me know if you change your mind," Christopher told her.

"I will," Victoria said.

"Ok, I'm gonna call you in and then I'm gonna tell the boss that I'm coming down with some horrible disease and come home and we can have a Godfather marathon," Christopher told her.

"You don't have to do that," Victoria told him.

"Please, a Godfather marathon with you or work? There's no contest," Christopher said.

* * *

"Wow. Nice face you got on there," Lorelai said when Rory walked into Luke's after school looking completely miserable.

"Coffee," Rory muttered, needing a coffee after the day she'd had.

The comments hadn't stopped just because Victoria left. They'd only gotten worse once the twin everyone actually knew and liked was gone.

"Bad day?" Lorelai asked sympathetically.

"I've now used the word sucks so much that it's lost all meaning to me," Rory told her.

"Well, maybe this will cheer you up," Lorelai said, holding a garment bag up.

"What?" Rory wondered.

"You'll see," Lorelai told her as she unzipped the garment bag so Rory could see the dresses her mom had bought for them.

"What is that?" Rory wondered.

"These are our party dresses," Lorelai told her with a grin.

"So it's a Halloween party?" Rory said dryly.

"Listen, you," Lorelai said. "So I'm shopping with your grandmother and it's been a whole three hours of who are you buying that for, Mom? Have you met, Rory? And then finally I talked and she listened and she wound up getting you something I think you're really going to like."

"Really?" Rory said, surprised.

"Yes, really," Lorelai told her. "And, of course, she insisted on buying us these dresses, but I think I can do something with them to make them better."

"Wow. I've never seen you so cheery after spending time with Grandma," Rory commented.

"Well, it's been a long time since we got together and didn't end up fighting. It was refreshing. It wasn't exactly fun, but I didn't get that shooting pain in my eye like I usually do," Lorelai said.

"Wow. That's great," Rory told her.

"Yeah," Lorelai agreed.

Luke came over with their coffees. "So I hear you're having a party on Saturday."

"Yeah. Mom's famous for her blowouts," Rory said with a smile.

"The best one was her eighth birthday," Lorelai remembered.

Rory nodded. "Oh, yeah, that was good."

"The cops shut us down," Lorelai told him.

Luke stared at Lorelai. "The cops shut down an eight year old's birthday party?"

"And arrested the clown," Rory added.

"I don't want to hear any more of this," Luke said, walking away.

Lorelai turned to Rory. "So now tell me, why Miss Lemonhead today?"

"Nothing. I- I'm fine. I just got an A minus on a French test that I should have gotten an A on," Rory lied, not wanting to cause problems with her mom and her grandma when they were finally getting along.

"Oh, honey, an A minus is awesome," Lorelai told her.

"Yeah, it's fine," Rory said.

"Let me see," Lorelai said, looking at the party dresses. "Maybe we should really embrace the whole tulle thing. Go totally modern Cinderella. What do you think? It's your birthday."

"Yeah, lucky me," Rory said convincingly, though she didn't feel very lucky.


	9. Party Girls

Chapter Nine: Party Girls

"Happy birthday, little girl," Lorelai said, waking Rory up at four in the morning.

"Hey," Rory murmured, moving over so her mom could lie down next to her.

"I can't believe how fast you're growing up," Lorelai told her.

"Really? Feels slow," Rory replied.

"Trust me, it's fast. What do you think of your life so far?" Lorelai asked.

"I think it's pretty good," Rory told her.

"Any complaints?" Lorelai asked.

"I'd like that whole humidity thing to go away," Rory said after a moment's thought.

"All right, I'll work on that," Lorelai told her.

"So do I look older?" Rory asked.

Lorelai turned to look at her. "Oh, yeah. You walk into Denny's before five, you've got yourself a discount."

"Good deal," Rory said.

"So you know what I think?" Lorelai asked.

"What?" Rory wondered.

"I think you're a great, cool kid and the best friend a girl could have," Lorelai said.

"Right back at ya," Rory told her.

"And it's so hard to believe that at exactly this time many moons ago, I was lying in exactly the same position," Lorelai said, starting the story of Rory's birth.

"Oh, boy. Here we go," Rory said.

"Only I had a huge, fat stomach and big, fat ankles and I was swearing like a sailor," Lorelai continued.

"On leave," Rory reminded her, knowing the story be heart by now.

"On leave. Right! And there I was-"

"In labor," Rory filled in.

"And, while some have called it the most meaningful experience of your life, to me it was something more akin to doing the splits on a crate of dynamite," Lorelai said.

"I wonder if the Waltons ever did this," Rory mused.

"And I was screaming and swearing and, being surrounded as I was by a hundred prominent doctors, I assumed there was an actual use for the cup of ice chips they gave me," Lorelai told her.

"There wasn't," Rory said, shaking her head.

"But pelting the nurses sure was fun," Lorelai said with a grin.

Rory looked at her mom. "I love you, Mom."

"Shh. I'm getting to the part where he sees your head," Lorelai told her.

* * *

"So we'll move the party to Madeline's when everyone leaves your grandmother's house," Louise said. Louise, Madeline, Paris and Victoria were standing by Victoria's locker talking before school.

"You can spend the night if you want," Madeline told them.

"Good idea. Don't drink and drive," Paris said.

"You could be the DD," Louise said with a smirk.

Paris shot her a look. "And sit around Madeline's all night while everyone gets drunk? No thank you."

"Your mom's making you come, isn't she?" Louise guessed.

"She says I have to stay until 10:30," Paris said.

Tristan walked over to them and looked at Paris with a smug smile on his face, completely ignoring Victoria. "Hey, Paris."

"Tristan, hi," Paris said, taken aback.

"What are you doing this weekend?" Tristan asked her.

"I'm going to Victoria and Rory's party tonight and then tomorrow I'm doing homework," Paris answered.

"Well, maybe I'll see you at the party," Tristan said.

"Yeah," Paris said with a glance at Victoria.

Victoria was a little annoyed with Tristan, but she was hiding it well. She knew he was just trying to make her jealous and it might have worked…if he'd chosen someone other than Paris.

"Hey, is your hair shorter?" Tristan asked Paris, continuing to ignore Victoria.

Paris smiled and then nodded, please he'd noticed. "Yeah, a quarter of an inch."

"Really?" Tristan said.

"I got it trimmed," Paris told him.

"Looks good," Tristan complimented.

"Thanks," Paris said with a smile.

"Well, I'll see you later. Bye, Madeline. Bye, Louise," Tristan said, leaving without saying anything to Victoria.

He did however glance back to see if he'd succeeded, but Victoria didn't look jealous. She wasn't looking at him longingly or glaring at Paris.

"What was that?" Paris asked after Tristan left.

"He was flirting with you," Louise said enviously.

"But I thought he was dating Victoria," Madeline said with a confused frown.

"Oh, no, he's definitely not dating me. He's not even speaking to me at the moment," Victoria said, trying to keep the bitterness out of her voice.

Louise looked at Victoria curiously. "Did you guys break up?"

"Yeah, Louise, we broke up," Victoria said flatly.

Louise stared at Victoria. "And you didn't tell me? First you don't tell me that you have a sister and now you don't tell me and Tristan broke up."

"I don't want to talk about it," Victoria said.

"He's not your boyfriend?" Paris said softly.

"No, he's not my boyfriend. You can have him," Victoria told her, knowing there was no chance of that happening.

"I know he's only flirting with me to get to you," Paris said begrudgingly. "He's not going to ask me out. He only dates those most likely to become a trophy wife and that's never going to be me."

"You are far from his type," Louise commented.

"So, so far," Madeline chimed in.

"He usually likes his girls bad," Louise said.

"Yeah, party girls," Paris said quietly, looking at Victoria.

* * *

"Hey, you look nice," Christopher told Victoria when she came out of her room dressed in a black dress and ready to go to the party that evening.

"Why thank you," Victoria said.

"It's not the dress Emily had delivered," Christopher commented warily. He knew Emily wanted Victoria to wear the dress.

"I've been dressing myself for years now without any help from Emily Gilmore," Victoria said.

Victoria had already been angry that Emily decided to have the birthday party without even asking her when the dress was delivered.

She felt like Emily was trying to control her and she didn't like it. She got enough of that from Straub and Francine.

She had her own plans for her birthday and she could choose her own clothes. She had to go to the party, but she didn't have to wear the dress.

"You're not wearing the dress," Christopher said knowingly.

Victoria smiled. "I'm not wearing the dress. I'm a rebel."

"You're still mad at Emily," Christopher said with a small smile.

"She's lucky I'm wearing a dress. I almost wore sweats," Victoria said in response.

"Hey, you can wear whatever you want," Christopher told her.

"Leather skirt? Hooker boots? Nose ring?" Victoria said with a wicked grin as they left.

Christopher just chuckled and shook his head.

"Please tell me your parents aren't going," Victoria said, not wanting a repeat of the last Gilmore-Hayden family dinner in front of everyone from school.

Christopher grinned. "Their invitation must have gotten lost in the mail."

"When are we doing my birthday dinner with them?" Victoria wondered.

"Tomorrow," Christopher replied.

Victoria nodded, resigned.

Christopher sighed. "I'm sorry about all of this with the grandparents. I know this isn't how you wanted to spend your birthday."

"It's ok," Victoria said with a halfhearted smile.

"No, it's not. I'll make it up to you," Christopher promised. "Maybe now would be a good time for me to give you my present."

Victoria looked at him, bemused. She knew he'd left the apartment empty-handed. "Is it smaller than a bread box?"

"Road trip. You and me. Wherever you want to go," Christopher told her.

"Can we go to Utah?" Victoria said excitedly.

Christopher gave her a weird look. "Utah?"

"Skiing, snowmobiling, sledding," Victoria said.

"Ah, ok, I get it," Christopher said with a nod. "Utah it is. We can go for a couple days over Christmas break."

"Thanks, Dad!" Victoria exclaimed.

They pulled into the driveway just behind Lorelai and Rory, who had just gotten there. Lorelai and Rory waited for Christopher and Victoria in front of the house.

"You look happy," Rory said to Victoria, surprised that Victoria was smiling. She knew Victoria wasn't any happier about this party than she was.

"Dad and I are going to Utah," Victoria told her.

"What?" Lorelai said, looking at Christopher in alarm.

Did he just decide to take an impromptu road trip across the country or were they moving again?

"Just for a couple of days over Christmas break. A ski trip. Hey, Rory should come, too," Christopher said, earning a glare from Lorelai.

"Um," Lorelai stalled, uncomfortable with this. "How are you getting there?"

"Road trip," Christopher told her.

Lorelai stared at him incredulously. "On what? Your bike?"

"We can take my car," Victoria said, thinking it would be fun if Rory came.

"And where is Rory going to sit? The trunk?" Lorelai said, having seen Victoria's sports car. There wasn't room for three people in it.

"So we'll rent a car," Christopher said with a shrug.

"It's ok. I don't have to go," Rory said, not wanting them to fight.

"I don't mind renting a car," Christopher assured her.

"Ok, we can talk about this later. This is not the time," Lorelai said, not wanting to get into this at her parents' house. She rang the doorbell and Emily answered.

"Happy birthday, girls," Emily said with a smile.

"Hi, Grandma," Rory said.

"Emily," Victoria acknowledged.

"Wow, you really went all out, huh?" Lorelai said, looking around.

"Well, I wanted everything to be perfect. What do you think?" Emily said, wanting the girls to enjoy their party.

"Perfect as always, Emily," Christopher complimented.

"I think Edith Wharton would have been proud and busy taking notes," Lorelai said. She handed a garment bag to Rory. "Here, babe. Go change."

"Ok," Rory said, heading up the stairs to change in her mom's old room.

"Hurry!" Emily called after her. She looked at Victoria and frowned. "Where's your dress?"

"Am I naked again?" Victoria said, earning a smile from Lorelai and a snicker from her dad.

Emily sighed. "Not that dress. Where's the one I bought you? The one I had delivered to your apartment?"

"Well, I already had a dress. I was already having a party at my friend Madeline's. Tonight actually," Victoria said pointedly.

Lorelai looked from Victoria to her mom. "Mom, did you do this without asking Victoria?"

"I was having a birthday party for Rory. Victoria is my granddaughter, too. They're twins, Lorelai. They have the same birthday. I couldn't very well have a party for Rory and not Victoria now, could I?" Emily defended.

"Yes. It would've been easy. You just wouldn't have put my name on the invitations you sent out to my whole school," Victoria said.

"I'm sorry, honey," Lorelai apologized to Victoria. "I didn't know."

"Don't apologize. What are you apologizing for? We're having a lovely party here and all of her friends from school are invited. There's no reason for her friend Madeline to have a party for her when we are happy to have a party here," Emily said, not understanding what the problem was.

At that moment Rory came downstairs wearing the dress Emily bought her. It was the exact same dress Emily bought for Victoria.

"You bought us matching dresses?" Victoria said incredulously, glad she hadn't worn the dress.

"I bought one for Lorelai, too," Emily told her, realizing for the first time that Lorelai's dress was different. "Lorelai, where's your dress?"

"This is it," Lorelai said.

Emily looked at the dress. "I thought there was more of it."

"Gee, Mom, the place looks great," Lorelai said, trying to change the subject. "Nice candles. Six inches apart?"

* * *

"Lorelai?" One of the women her mother had invited to the party recognized Lorelai.

"Yeah," Lorelai said, trying to figure out who the woman was. "Oh my god! Oh, Mitzi, I haven't seen you since-"

"Your seventh month," Mitzi finished for her.

"I was going to say high school, but ok," Lorelai said awkwardly.

"Oh, no. Did I say something rude?" Mitzi said obliviously.

"No, no," Lorelai said, obviously lying.

"No, I did. I said something rude. I've been trying to work on that," Mitzi told her.

"Well, a noble goal," Lorelai said dryly.

"Ever since my divorce, I've been really trying to work on myself. You know, I just- I want to grow," Mitzi continued.

"Uh-huh," Lorelai said, ready for the conversation to end.

"Lorelai Gilmore, the scandal girl!" Mitzi exclaimed.

"Hi," Christopher said, interrupting the conversation. "Sorry to interrupt. Lor, your mom needs you in the kitchen."

"Right! The kitchen," Lorelai said, relieved to see Christopher.

"Oh my God. Christopher?" Mitzi said. "Whatever happened with you two? Are you married now?"

"Uh," Christopher said, exchanging a glance with Lorelai.

"The kitchen. Let's go," Lorelai said, wanting to get away from Mitzi. "Thank you, thank you, thank you," she said to Christopher as soon as they were out of earshot.

"You look like you need another drink," Christopher said with a chuckle.

"You know me so well," Lorelai said with a smile.

* * *

"Hey, Rory," Tristan said, walking over to where Rory was talking to her grandfather.

"Rory, who's your friend?" Richard said, looking at Tristan curiously.

"I don't know, but this is Tristan," Rory said. She wasn't going to introduce him as a friend. He was a jerk.

"Excuse me?" Richard said, confused.

"Tristan DuGrey, sir," Tristan introduced himself.

"DuGrey? Are you any relation to Janlen DuGrey?" Richard wondered.

"That's my grandfather, sir," Tristan told him.

"Well, I've done business with Janlen for years. He's a fine man," Richard said.

"That he is," Tristan agreed.

"Rory, you've got very good taste in friends. I approve," Richard told Rory, leaving now that his granddaughter was in good hands.

"He likes me," Tristan said smugly.

Rory looked at him. "He's drunk."

"So where's your sister?" Tristan asked.

"I don't know," Rory told him.

"You must be happy," Tristan said, sounding bitter.

"About what?" Rory asked with a frown.

Tristan sighed. "Me and Victoria."

"I'm not happy that you're dating my sister, Tristan," Rory muttered.

"She didn't come here with me, did she? She doesn't like me. Are you happy now?" Tristan said, sure she would be happy.

"Not really," Rory said.

"So you really don't know where she is?" Tristan asked.

"Nope," Rory said.

"Look, I'm sorry I've been giving you a hard time," Tristan apologized.

"Oh, that's ok," Rory told him.

Tristan looked surprised. "It is?"

"Well, no," Rory said honestly, "but Victoria is my sister. I don't know what happened between you but I think she likes you, so I'm trying to be mildly polite to you."

Tristan looked at her curiously. "She likes me?"

"Yeah," Rory said softly.

* * *

"What were you doing in the pool house with Austin?" Tristan demanded when Victoria and Austin walked into the main house together.

"None of your business," Victoria told him, trying to keep walking.

Tristan stepped in front of her, blocking her path. "Hey, you are my girlfriend."

Victoria stared at him. "Me?"

"Yeah," Tristan said.

"Me? I'm your girlfriend?" Victoria said incredulously. "Tristan, you haven't said two words to me in days. You've talked to Paris more than you've talked to me. And the last time we talked, it wasn't pretty."

"Well, I was mad," Tristan said.

Victoria gasped, feigning shock. "You were? Really? I had no idea."

"Ok, could we go somewhere else and talk about this?" Tristan said, aware that everyone in the room was staring at them.

"The pool house is empty," Victoria told him.

"I don't want to talk in the pool house. You were in the pool house with Austin," Tristan said.

"Fine," Victoria said, frustrated. "Where do you want to go?"

"Well, we could go upstairs," Tristan suggested.

"Fine," Victoria muttered.

They went upstairs and Tristan stopped in the hallway at the top of the staircase. "I don't know where I'm going here. It's your grandparents' house."

"Yes, it's my grandparents' house that I've been in exactly one time before," Victoria said.

She walked ahead of him and looked in the room on the first door to the right. It looked like a girl's room. _It must have been Lorelai's old room_, Victoria realized.

She walked in and turned around to face Tristan. She stood there with her arms crossed in front of her chest. "Ok, so talk."

* * *

"Oh, there you are!" Emily exclaimed when she saw Rory. "Have you seen your sister?"

"No, I'm not sure where she is," Rory told her.

"Oh," Emily said, disappointed. "Well, I think it's time that you girls said a few words to your guests, but since I can't find Victoria anywhere, we'll just have to make do without her. Come on, Rory."

"What?" Rory said, horrified.

She knew half the kids from Chilton didn't even know who she was and the ones who did know her didn't like her. Paris hated her.

"Just a little speech to say thank you and tell everyone how it feels to be one year older," Emily told her.

"Mom, I don't think she wants to-"

"She's the hostess, Lorelai," Emily said.

"I am not the hostess! You are!" Rory yelled.

Lorelai looked at Rory, surprised. "Hey, honey, hold on."

"This is your party and these are your guests and I don't have anything to say to them so you give the speech," Rory told Emily angrily.

"Rory!" Emily said, shocked by Rory's behavior.

"Excuse me," Rory said, hurrying up the stairs.

"What was that all about?" Lorelai asked Emily.

"Lorelai, your daughters have no manners whatsoever. You should be ashamed of yourself," Emily said in a disapproving tone.

"Ok, how did this become my fault?" Lorelai wondered as Emily walked away.

* * *

"Oh, sorry," Rory said, walking into her mom's old room and seeing Tristan and Victoria. She turned around to leave.

"Rory, it's ok," Victoria called, but Rory was already gone.

Rory sat down on the floor outside of her mom's old room, drawing her knees to her chest.

Lorelai found her like that. "Hey. What are you doing?"

"Victoria's in your room with Tristan," Rory muttered.

"Oh God. They're not…"

"No," Rory said quickly. "They're just talking."

"Oh, um, ok," Lorelai said awkwardly, sitting down on the floor next to Rory. "How are you doing?"

"I'm sorry I snapped at Grandma," Rory said, starting to feel guilty.

"Yeah, huh? That was a pretty Freaky Friday moment we had back there," Lorelai commented with a glance at Rory.

"She just went ahead and invited all these kids from Chilton," Rory said unhappily.

"You're kidding. I thought she checked on that with you," Lorelai said.

Everything made sense to her now. Her mom had just invited all the Chilton kids without asking Rory or Victoria. Rory didn't want them there. She didn't like them. And Victoria didn't want them to know that Rory was her twin. No wonder her kids were mad.

"She didn't ask me or tell me," Rory said, upset.

"Oh, man, I'm so sorry," Lorelai apologized, hating that her mom had done this and on the twins' birthday…a day that should have been good.

"It just…I don't know, but it made me really mad," Rory said softly.

"Oh, honey, why didn't you tell me?" Lorelai wondered.

"Because you were happy. I mean, it's not very often that there's peace between the two of you. I didn't want to screw everything up," Rory explained.

"Rory, I appreciate you wanting Mom and I to get along, but you shouldn't keep stuff like that from me," Lorelai told her.

"I feel terrible. I mean, I've never yelled at her before," Rory said.

"Listen, you'll apologize. All will be forgotten. You'll see," Lorelai told her.

"I now officially know what it feels like to have grown up here," Rory commented.

"It's not official until you're huddled in the corner eating your hair," Lorelai said.

"I guess I'd better go find Grandma," Rory said.

"If you don't find her, she'll find us," Lorelai said knowingly, "and then she'll find Victoria in my room with a boy and have flashbacks to when I was sixteen."

"Right. I'm going now," Rory said, standing up.

"I'll be down in a minute," Lorelai told her. "I'm just gonna…" Lorelai looked at the door to her room pointedly. "Because now _I'm_ having flashbacks to all the things I did in that room with a boy when I was sixteen and none of them are things I really want my sixteen year old daughter reenacting."

* * *

"Do you like me or what?" Tristan asked.

"You're not my favorite person in the world right now," Victoria said.

"Do you like Austin?" Tristan demanded.

"No, I don't like Austin," Victoria said with a sigh.

"What were you doing in the pool house with him?" Tristan asked.

"He kissed me," Victoria said honestly and Tristan looked upset. "Oh, don't look at me like that. We aren't together anymore."

"We are, too," Tristan said.

"No, we aren't," Victoria said slowly, exasperated.

"I think you like me. You're just mad," Tristan said, sounding smug.

"Yes, I'm mad. Of course I'm mad!" Victoria told him.

"Well, I'm a little irritated, too," Tristan said.

"Ok, I'm mad, you're mad, we're not together. I'm glad we got that cleared up. We can go back to not speaking to each other now," Victoria said.

"No," Tristan said uncooperatively.

Victoria just stared at him. "No?"

"See, you didn't deny it. You like me," Tristan said with a triumphant smile.

"Oh my God," Victoria said with a groan of frustration.

"Come on, you like me and I like you. I think we should make up," Tristan said, pulling her to him for a kiss.

She gave in for a moment and then pulled away. "No, wait."

"What?" Tristan said.

"Nothing's changed. I didn't tell you about Rory and- and I'm not going to introduce you to my grandparents," Victoria said, remembering what started all of this.

"I met your grandfather. He likes me," Tristan told her.

"You met Lorelai's dad," Victoria said with a knowing smile. "I can guarantee that my other grandfather wouldn't like you."

"Oh, you hurt me," Tristan said, pretending to be hurt.

"It's not about you. He wouldn't like anyone I'm dating," Victoria told him. "When my parents were sixteen, my mom got pregnant."

"Ok, but…" Tristan hesitated for a second. "You're not your mom and I'm not your dad."

"I know that, but try telling my grandparents that," Victoria said with a bitter laugh, shaking her head. "It's always about my parents with them. My family's…different. They can be kind of hard to deal with."

"You don't want me to meet your family," Tristan said, accepting that it was about her family, not him. "Ok, if that's what you want."

"It is," Victoria confirmed.

"So can we make up now?" Tristan asked.

"Yeah." Victoria nodded.

Tristan kissed her again for a few minutes and then broke apart.

Tristan looked at her with a grin. "Hey, did I tell you happy birthday? Happy birthday." He pulled two concert tickets out of his pocket and held them up.

Victoria smiled, pleasantly surprised. "For me?"

"I don't know anybody else who's into PJ Harvey," Tristan told her.

"Thank you!" Victoria squealed, throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him.

Lorelai opened the door right at that moment and her daughter and Tristan broke apart.

"You must be Tristan," Lorelai said, looking at Tristan.

She didn't like Tristan, but she was trying to act like she was ok with it. This kid was in her daughter's life and there was nothing she could do about it.

"Yes, ma'am," Tristan said.

"Oh, I'm not a ma'am. I'm Lorelai," Lorelai told him.

"Nice to meet you." Tristan looked at Victoria. "Well, we should go back down…"

"Ah, Victoria, can I talk to you for a minute?" Lorelai said, stopping them.

"Um, yeah," Victoria said. "Go ahead, Tristan. I'll meet you downstairs."

"You know, the last time you were in this room, you were two," Lorelai told her. "God, I can't believe how fast you're growing up."

"It is fast," Victoria agreed.

"Really?" Lorelai said, a little surprised.

Just that morning Rory had said it felt slow and now Victoria was saying it was fast. Lorelai knew Victoria wasn't Rory, but she still expected them to be more alike than they were.

"Yeah." Victoria nodded. "I'm a sophomore. In a couple years, I'll be in college, then law school. And then working for my grandfather."

Lorelai knew that wasn't what Victoria wanted. It was what Straub and Francine wanted. They'd planned Victoria's whole future out for her. They were controlling Victoria like Emily had always tried to control Lorelai.

Lorelai looked sad. "You know, you don't have to do that if you don't want to."

Victoria struggled to smile. "Yeah. So when did you move out?"

"I was seventeen," Lorelai said.

"Wow," Victoria said softly. "You were so young."

"Yeah, well, I was never happy here," Lorelai told her. "And then when I got pregnant, my parents wanted me to marry your dad. They wanted him to work for my dad. I didn't want my parents' life."

"Where did you live? What did you do for money?" Victoria wondered, genuinely curious.

"I got a job as a maid at an inn and we lived in the potting shed behind the inn," Lorelai told her.

"Do you ever regret it?" Victoria asked, not knowing if she'd be able to walk away from the money and the privilege.

"No," Lorelai said without even having to think about it.

* * *

"Grandma, I just want to-" Rory began when she found her grandma talking to her dad downstairs.

"We'll talk about this later," Emily cut her off, then walked off in the other direction.

Christopher watched Emily walk off, frowning slightly. "What was that about?"

"She's mad because I yelled at her," Rory told him.

"What? Why?" Christopher asked.

It wouldn't have surprised him in the least if Victoria had yelled at Emily, but, in the short time he'd known Rory, she hadn't been a yeller.

"It's my birthday. We always have a party in Stars Hollow. The whole town comes and it's really fun," Rory said with a smile. "Mom tried to get us out of dinner tonight, but she couldn't. Grandma wanted to have a party here. She invited all the kids from Chilton," Rory said, sounding upset.

"I just thought if one of you was going to yell at Emily, it'd be Victoria," Christopher said honestly.

"They like Victoria. They hate me," Rory said.

"That's not true," Christopher argued, not seeing how anyone could hate Rory.

Rory just looked at him. "Dad, the guys call me Virgin Mary."

Christopher grinned. "Virgin Mary, huh?"

Rory nodded. "They don't even know me. And I didn't want them here and then Grandma wanted me to give a speech and I just freaked."

"Hey, Victoria can give the speech," Christopher suggested, trying to help. "She's not shy."

Rory shook her head. "Victoria was upstairs with Tristan and-"

"What? Victoria's upstairs with Tristan?" Christopher said, ready to go up there and get Victoria.

"And Mom," Rory told him quickly. "Mom's up there, too."

"Oh, ok," Christopher said, sounding immensely relieved.

"So Grandma wanted me to give the speech and I yelled at her," Rory continued. "She won't even talk to me."

"You want me to talk to her?" Christopher asked.

"Maybe you could come with me to talk to her?" Rory said hopefully.

"Sure," Christopher agreed, following her to the entryway, where Emily was saying goodbye to some of her friends.

"Grandma, can I talk to you for a sec?" Rory asked.

"I can't. I'm busy," Emily said, starting to walk away.

"Come on, Emily," Christopher pleaded on behalf of Rory. "It'll only take a minute."

Emily sighed and turned to face Rory. "What is it, dear?"

Rory bit her bottom lip. "Mom's having a party at our house tomorrow and- I mean, it won't be anything like this, but it will be fun and maybe you and Grandpa can come?"

"That's very sweet, but I'm afraid we already have plans," Emily told her.

Rory's face fell. "Oh, ok."

Christopher sighed. "Emily, please…"

"We're busy," Emily said.

"Too busy for Rory?" Christopher demanded.

"No!" Emily exclaimed.

"Great, so you'll come to her party?" Christopher said.

"I've already been to a party for her and she humiliated me in front of all of my friends. I have no desire to relive that experience," Emily told him.

"Grandma, I'm sorry," Rory apologized, feeling terrible.

"Emily, come on," Christopher said.

Emily looked at Rory and nodded, then turned to Christopher. "So will you and Victoria be at this party?"

"Oh! Please come," Rory said, looking at Christopher.

Christopher smiled weakly and nodded.

His parents wanted to do dinner for Victoria's birthday, but he didn't feel like he could say no. He'd just made Emily feel bad for being too busy to go to Rory's party. He'd be there. He'd just be late…


	10. Track Record

Chapter Ten: Track Record

"You're late," Straub said when Christopher and Victoria entered the expensive French restaurant where Francine had made reservations for Victoria's birthday.

"Straub, please. It's Victoria's birthday," Francine said, and Victoria shot her a grateful look as the hostess seated them.

"Her birthday was yesterday," Straub pointed out, "and she was with Emily and Richard."

Straub and Francine hadn't been invited back to the Gilmore house for the party, but they had enough mutual friends that they'd heard about it.

"Yes, Emily, Richard _and_ everyone from school," Victoria said pointedly.

"I don't care who else was there. This birthday party was at Emily and Richard's house," Straub told her. "I don't know how you two can go to a party there and pretend that everything is ok after what happened the last time."

"We didn't have a choice," Victoria defended wearily.

"What do you mean you didn't have a choice?" Straub demanded.

"Emily sent out invitations to the whole school with my name on them without even asking me," Victoria told him. "I was going to have a party at my friend Madeline's house."

"Madeline Lynn?" Francine inquired.

"Yeah." Victoria nodded.

"I like her," Francine told Victoria.

"And was that woman there?" Straub asked.

"Dad," Christopher pleaded.

"If by that woman you mean Lorelai, then yes," Victoria said with a tight smile.

"Christopher," Straub said, strongly disapproving of Lorelai's presence in Victoria's life.

"She's her mom," Christopher defended weakly.

"She ruined your life. She's not going to drag Victoria down, too," Straub said.

"She's not a good role model," Francine agreed quietly, not approving of Lorelai any more than her husband did.

"These rolls are good," Victoria said suddenly in an attempt to change the subject. "Anyone else want one? Grandmother? Grandfather?" She passed the basket around the table.

"Do you like the restaurant, dear?" Francine inquired.

"Yes, Grandmother," Victoria said.

"How's school?" Straub asked Victoria.

"Good," Victoria said quickly.

"And how are your grades?" Straub asked.

"They're good, Dad," Christopher told him.

"Is that so?" Straub inquired.

Victoria looked at Straub. "Yes."

"You were always bright," Straub said, giving her a rare compliment. "I don't know where you get it from," he added, ruining it.

"Dad's smart," Victoria said defensively.

"Your father dropped out of Princeton," Straub scoffed at that and then turned to Christopher. "And now you're working for someone else as a consultant. Tell me, what happened with your business out in California."

Christopher winced. He'd known his parents would find out that his business didn't get picked up eventually, but did his dad really have to pick tonight to talk about it?

"It didn't get picked up. That's why you came back, right?" Straub said knowingly. "It had nothing to do with Victoria's schooling."

Christopher sighed. "Don't do this. Not tonight. It's Victoria's birthday."

"Her birthday was yesterday," Straub said, setting his glass of wine down on the table a little harder than necessary.

"Are we really going to do this again?" Victoria asked tiredly, not wanting to have the same argument they'd had when she and her dad arrived.

"Straub, please," Francine said.

"So your grades are good? It's refreshing to see a young lady focused on her studies instead of boys," Straub said pointedly.

"No. No boys," Victoria said slowly, sending her dad a pointed look. She didn't want him to say anything about Tristan to her grandparents.

* * *

Lorelai walked over to Rory, who was looking out the window. "I know you want to wait for your dad and Victoria, but it's getting late…"

Rory wanted to wait until Christopher and Victoria got there to eat cake, but it was getting late and Lorelai didn't know if he'd show up.

Rory turned around to look at her mom. "He said he'd come."

Lorelai sighed. "I know, hon."

"What if something happened?" Rory asked worriedly.

"Rory…"

"No! He said he'd come. So that's it. He'll be here," Rory insisted.

"Ok, then we'll save him a piece of cake," Lorelai said. "Come on, Rory."

Lorelai and Rory walked back into the family room together. Lorelai sent Sookie a look and Sookie went to the kitchen to get the cake.

"Ok, one three 'cause I'm gonna drop it," Sookie told them, coming back into the family room with the cake. "One, two…" And everyone sang Happy Birthday to Rory.

"Make a wish," Lorelai told Rory and Rory blew out the candles.

"All right, everybody, I need your attention, your attention, please," Lorelai said, getting everyone's attention. "This is a very serious moment. Two priests, a rabbi, and a duck-"

"Mom," Rory said.

"All right. I'm kidding," Lorelai told her. "Um, I would like to propose a toast to the one thing in my life that is always good, always sweet and without whom I would have no reason to get up in the morning, my pal, Rory. Cheers."

"Happy birthday," Babette told Rory.

"And in honor of this very special girl, I now invite you all to help me eat her face," Lorelai said.

"And you may have the first cut." Sookie handed Rory a knife as the doorbell rang.

Rory dropped the knife and hurried to the door, thinking it was her dad and Victoria. She tried to hide her disappointment when she opened the door and saw her grandparents standing there. She was glad they came, but she really just wanted her dad to be there.

"Grandma! Grandpa! I'm so glad you came. Hey, no tie?" Rory said, noticing her grandpa wasn't wearing a tie.

"I thought I'd mix it up a little," Richard responded.

"Grandma, look," Rory said, showing her grandma that she was wearing the bracelet they gave her.

"Why, it looks lovely," Emily told her.

"I want you to meet everyone," Rory said as they walked into the family room. "Everyone, these are my grandparents."

Lorelai stood up. "Mom, Dad, can I get you a drink?"

"No, thank you," Emily said politely.

"Oh, no, Mom, you're going to need one and I have wine glasses that say Holiday Inn on them," Lorelai told her.

"Stoli on rocks with a twist," Emily told her.

"Right," Lorelai said, going into the kitchen to get the drink. "Um, ok, uh my parents are here."

"No!" Sookie exclaimed in surprise.

"Yeah," Lorelai said, still trying to process it.

"God, when was the last time they were here?" Sookie wondered.

"Never," Lorelai said.

"Not once?" Sookie inquired.

"Not since we moved here," Lorelai said. "I mean, they'd come down and visit us occasionally when Rory was a baby and we lived at the inn, but they have never been here."

"Wow. That's big stuff. Is Rory thrilled?" Sookie asked.

Lorelai hesitated. "Yeah. I mean, she's happy my parents are here, but you know the one person who's not here?" Lorelai said, knowing Rory be crushed if Christopher didn't show up.

"Christopher," Sookie said knowingly, giving Lorelai a sympathetic look.

"Right. Christopher," Lorelai confirmed. "She really wants him here. She still thinks he's going to come."

"And you don't?" Sookie asked.

"It's just…this is the same thing he used to do when Rory and Victoria were babies. This is vintage Christopher," Lorelai said softly.

Sookie looked at Lorelai sympathetically. "Poor Rory."

"Yeah," Lorelai agreed.

Sookie looked at Lorelai. "How are you feeling about all of this?"

"Well, it's weird," Lorelai said honestly. "I mean, I hadn't seen Christopher or Victoria since Rory and Victoria were two. And then all of a sudden they're back in Hartford and Victoria's at Rory's school and Rory's so excited about getting to know her sister and her dad. And like an idiot I let him be a part of her life."

"You're not an idiot," Sookie told her.

"No, I am. I let him be a part of her life and now he's not here and she's hurt," Lorelai said.

"He could still show up," Sookie said, trying to make Lorelai feel better.

Lorelai sighed. "Christopher doesn't have the greatest track record."

"Maybe he's changed. People can change, right?" Sookie said.

"If he'd changed, he would be here," Lorelai said sadly.

* * *

"That was festive," Christopher said sarcastically as he and Victoria left the restaurant.

Victoria smiled. "I can see why Emily didn't invite them."

"Next year we're going to stay home for your birthday," Christopher said.

"Tell the grandparents we're out of the country," Victoria said with a smile.

"We can really leave the country," Christopher suggested.

"I hear Paris is nice this time of year," Victoria said, knowing he wasn't serious.

"No, it has to be somewhere my parents wouldn't go," Christopher told her.

"No third world countries," Victoria told him. "I like indoor plumbing."

"Mexico," Christopher suggested.

"They won't go to Mexico?" Victoria said.

Christopher looked at her. "Are you kidding me? My mom thinks Mexico _is_ a third world country."

* * *

"Oh! Oh my God! You're a vision! Sookie, we have ice!" Lorelai exclaimed excitedly when Luke walked in with ice. She'd been on her way out to get some.

"Hallelujah," Sookie said.

"How did you know?" Lorelai asked Luke.

"Well, a good rule of thumb is you can never have too much ice," Luke said.

"Oh, you're the best," Lorelai said, giving him a hug.

"That's-" Lorelai noticed her mom watching them. "Oh, hi, Mom, this is my friend Luke."

"How are you doing?" Luke said, trying to be polite.

"Fine, thank you," Emily said in an overly polite tone.

"Well, I'd better get these in the freezer before they melt," Luke said, heading back to the kitchen.

"Well, not very likely in here," Lorelai muttered under her breath with a glance at her mother.

"Where's Christopher?" Emily asked.

"What?" Lorelai said.

"It's a simple question, Lorelai. Where is Christopher?" Emily repeated the question.

"I don't know," Lorelai said honestly.

"You don't know?" Emily said critically.

"No, Mom, I don't know," Lorelai said, exasperated. "I don't know where he is or what he's doing every second of the day."

"He's Rory's father. This is Rory's birthday party. He should be here," Emily said, sounding upset.

"I totally agree," Lorelai said softly.

"Well, then where is he?" Emily demanded.

"Well, we invited him," Lorelai told her. "What did you want me to do? Knock him over the head and drag him here?"

"That's not funny," Emily told her. "And what is going on between you and this man with the ice?"

"Luke?" Lorelai said, wondering how they went from Christopher to Luke.

"How long have you been seeing him?" Emily asked.

"Luke?" Lorelai said with a laugh. "I'm not seeing Luke. He's just a friend."

"Mm hmm," Emily said, obviously not believing her.

"Mom, I swear. Luke keeps me in coffee. Nothing else," Lorelai told her.

"He seems to like you," Emily said.

"And you're judging this by what?" Lorelai said, wanting to know how Emily had decided they were madly in love in the two seconds she'd talked to Luke.

"By the way he looked at you," Emily told her.

"Which is how?" Lorelai wondered.

"Like you were about to give him a lap dance," Emily said in a matter of fact tone.

"Mom, he did not look at me like that," Lorelai said, trying to laugh it off.

"You're pleased," Emily noted.

"What?" Lorelai said.

"You smiled. You're pleased that the ice man looked at you like a Porterhouse steak," Emily said.

"I'm smiling because you're crazy and that's what you do to crazy people to keep them calm," Lorelai told her.

"Well, I'm not smiling," Emily told her. "Christopher is Rory and Victoria's father. If you want both your girls together, you should be with Christopher. Not with the ice man!"

"Mom, I am not getting back together with Christopher," Lorelai said evenly.

"Why not?" Emily asked.

"It's complicated," Lorelai told her.

"I can keep up," Emily responded.

"It wouldn't work," Lorelai said softly.

"That's because you don't want to make it work. You could make it work. He's crazy about you. Anybody could see that," Emily said.

"No, it wouldn't work because he's not ready for that," Lorelai argued. "He thinks he is, but he's not. Nothing's changed with him. He's still the same old Christopher."

"That's not true," Emily defended Christopher.

"It is true! He was late for the twins' first birthday and he's not here now for Rory's birthday," Lorelai said in an irritated tone.

"Uh, Lorelai?" Sookie said, providing a welcome interruption.

"What?" Lorelai said, looking over at Sookie.

"Christopher's here," Sookie said, nodding toward the window. Rory was running outside to greet Christopher as he got out of Victoria's Porsche.

_A/N: I'm trying to keep Straub in character, but we only saw him in two episodes that I remember, so it's a difficult task. __We know that Straub wanted Christopher to go to Princeton and take over his law practice. I think he and Francine would have agreed to take care of Victoria while Christopher went to school if it meant that Christopher attended Princeton. I picture Straub more or less ignoring Victoria. He would have seen that she was smart while she was living with them and then Christopher dropped out, so he decided that Victoria was his second chance. That's the character background and the kind of relationship Victoria has with Straub. Straub and Francine won't be main characters, but they will pop up every once in awhile. I'd love to hear what you think about how I'm writing them._


	11. Chips Off the Old Block

Chapter Eleven: Chips Off the Old Block

"Dad! You came!" Rory yelled excitedly, running to Victoria's Porsche and hugging Christopher.

"Of course I did," Christopher said.

"I'm glad," Rory said with a smile.

"Hey, I came, too," Victoria said, feeling left out.

Victoria hadn't really been jealous of Rory up until now.

It was both their birthday, but it felt like it was all about Rory. They'd been at the party Lorelai's parents had for them yesterday and now they were in Stars Hollow with a bunch of people Victoria didn't know for Rory's birthday party.

After dinner with her grandparents, she'd just wanted to go out with her friends and forget about all the family drama for a little while. Victoria didn't really want to be in Stars Hollow.

"I'm also glad. Come on. I want you guys to meet everyone." Rory led the way into the house, where her mom, Emily and Sookie were standing in the entryway. "This is Sookie. Sookie, this is my dad and-"

"Victoria!" Sookie said excitedly.

"Uh, yeah," Victoria said, not having any idea who Sookie was. "It's nice to meet you, uh…?"

"I'm Sookie. I'm a friend of Lorelai's," Sookie told her. "Oh, it's nice to meet you. You look like Lorelai. Doesn't she look like Lorelai?"

"Yes," Emily said thoughtfully, studying Victoria, "she looks exactly like Lorelai did when she was her age."

"She's all Lorelai," Christopher agreed and Emily shot him a look of annoyance. "They both are. Chips off the old block."

"Ok. Do you like cake?" Sookie asked Victoria suddenly.

"Uh, yeah," Victoria said.

"Come here. You have to try a piece," Sookie said, already starting for the kitchen.

"Ok," Victoria said slowly, following Sookie into the kitchen.

"Emily," Christopher said, unsure why she was looking at him like that.

"Christopher," Emily said coldly, then turned to Rory. "Rory, we're going to get going now."

"I'll walk you out," Rory said, walking out with her grandmother.

"Is it me or is it cold in here?" Christopher asked, having noticed the look and the coldness in Emily's tone.

"Frigid. Below zero," Lorelai told him.

"That cold, huh?" Christopher said.

"You're late," Lorelai said angrily.

Christopher sighed. "We're here."

"Yeah, late," Lorelai said, not letting it go.

"We got here as fast as we could," Christopher told her.

"An eighty year old woman on a Sunday drive would have gotten here faster than you. My parents got here before you. Oh, and Sookie and Miss Patty and Babette and Luke and the mailman-"

"I get it. We're late," Christopher said, stopping her before she listed off the whole town.

Lorelai shot him a look. "Where were you, Christopher?"

Christopher sighed. "We were tied up in Hartford."

"With what?" Lorelai demanded, wanting to know what was more important than this.

"You know, I'm so glad I came all the way over here so we could fight," Christopher said sarcastically.

Lorelai exhaled. "Whatever it was, this is more important. This is your daughter's birthday party. Rory invited you. She wanted you to come."

"And I came," Christopher said.

"You missed cake and presents," Lorelai told him. "The party's over."

Christopher looked at his watch. "It's nine o'clock."

"We didn't even know if you were coming. Rory was upset," Lorelai told him.

"Rory's fine. You're the one that's mad," Christopher said, remembering Rory running out to the car to hug him. That wasn't an upset kid.

"She was upset!" Lorelai argued. "You hurt her. I knew something like this was going to happen."

"That's not fair," Christopher said quietly.

"You know what's not fair? I had this big party for my kid and she didn't even enjoy it. She was too busy worrying about where you were," Lorelai said.

"You want to know where we were? Why we weren't here for cake and ice cream?" Victoria asked as she stepped into the entryway with a piece of cake for her dad. "We were at dinner with Dad's parents and they were mad that we spent my actual birthday with you and your parents," Victoria said, defending her dad.

"You were with Straub and Francine?" Lorelai said softly, her anger lessening.

She hated the way Christopher's parents had treated Rory at the dinner at her parents' house.

She knew they were a part of Victoria's life, but she didn't like it. Christopher couldn't have gotten out of the dinner with his parents any more than she could get out of Friday night dinner with her parents.

"You know what's funny? Dad was actually defending you," Victoria said with a slight, humorless laugh. "And you're yelling at him. He doesn't need this. Not from you."

She didn't remember all the times Christopher hadn't been there when she was younger, though there were several.

As she got older, he'd been pretty good about going to anything she wanted him to attend for her.

They were close and Victoria was very defensive of him, whether she was defending him to his parents or Lorelai.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know," Lorelai told Victoria, then turned to Christopher. "You didn't tell me," Lorelai said, wondering why he didn't just tell her where he was in the first place.

"Look, your parents had a birthday party for Rory and Victoria and my parents only took Victoria and me out to dinner. They don't want to be a part of Rory's life. I wish I could say they did, but they don't. I didn't want to upset her," Christopher said honestly.

"I appreciate your not wanting to upset her, but it would've been nice if you'd told us you would be late," Lorelai told him.

Rory walked back in after walking her grandparents out. "I don't think Grandma's mad about what happened last night anymore."

"She can't stay mad at you. It's like being mad at a puppy. You're too sweet," Lorelai said.

"What happened last night?" Victoria asked curiously.

"Oh yeah, you weren't there," Lorelai said, realizing Victoria had missed the fireworks. "My mom wanted Rory to give a speech thanking all the Chilton kids and Rory lost it."

"I did not lose it," Rory protested.

Lorelai looked at her. "Ok, you did a good impression of me then."

"What? I can't believe I missed that," Victoria said, a little disappointed.

"I can't believe you weren't the one yelling at Emily." Christopher grinned at Victoria.

"What are you saying?" Victoria asked with a laugh.

"That you got your mom's temper," Christopher said.

"Hey! I'm pure joy and sunshine," Lorelai told him.

"Come on, you have to see what Mom got me," Rory said excitedly, leading the way into the living room.

"I have your present in here, too," Lorelai told Victoria as they followed Rory.

"An iBook," Rory said, showing them the laptop Lorelai got her.

"It's pretty," Victoria said, admiring the laptop.

"That's what I said!" Lorelai told her. "It's blue."

"My laptop is black and boring," Victoria said.

"You decorated it," Christopher remembered.

"You decorated it?" Lorelai repeated with a smile.

"With stickers," Christopher told her.

"Am I correct in assuming this laptop was a gift from Straub and Francine?" Lorelai inquired and Victoria nodded. "And have they seen it since you decorated it?" Lorelai asked, thinking she wished she could have seen their faces when they saw the decorated laptop.

"They didn't like it," Victoria said evenly.

"They were horrified," Christopher chimed in, remembering how his dad had reacted.

"Man, I wish I could've seen that," Lorelai said. "Did you take pictures? Video?"

Victoria grinned and shook her head.

"Next time you do something that will horrify your grandparents, I want you to document the moment for me," Lorelai told her.

"I'll see what I can do," Christopher said with a laugh.

"Ok, now it's your turn," Lorelai said, handing Victoria a wrapped box. "Happy birthday. I think you're a great kid and I'm so glad I have you in my life now."

"Thank you," Victoria said, opening the gift and hugging Lorelai.

"You like it?" Lorelai asked.

She got Victoria an expensive camera. She wanted to get Victoria something nice and she'd noticed all the pictures in Victoria's room.

"Yes, I love it," Victoria told her.

"It's purple so you don't have to decorate it, but you can if you want to," Lorelai said teasingly.

"No, it's good," Victoria told her.

* * *

"Hey," Rory said, walking over to where Dean was waiting for her outside.

Dean grinned. "Hey. Happy birthday." He handed her a present.

"You didn't have to get me anything," Rory told him.

"Sorry, that's the rules. You get older, you get a gift," Dean said with a smile.

"I'm sorry about this sort of sneaky thing," Rory said apologetically. "I just haven't told my mother about you yet. I mean, not that there's anything to tell. I just-"

"That's ok," Dean told her. "This is better."

Rory smiled and unwrapped the gift. "Oh my God, it's beautiful."

"Well, I bought the medallion and I just cut some leather straps and drilled a hole," Dean said, showing her the bracelet, "And, well, you like it?"

"I- it's amazing," Rory told him.

"Good," Dean said.

"Thank you," Rory said.

"Here," Dean said, putting the bracelet on her.

* * *

"You need help cleaning up?" Christopher offered, walking into the kitchen with his plate and Victoria's plate.

Lorelai didn't answer. She didn't even act like she'd heard him. She was just staring out the window.

Christopher followed her gaze and saw Rory outside with a boy. "She has a boyfriend?"

"She doesn't have a boyfriend," Lorelai said, denying it.

"Ok, she has a boy who gives her jewelry but isn't her boyfriend. Is that better?" Christopher said, watching as Dean put a bracelet on Rory's wrist.

"He gave her jewelry," Lorelai said softly, trying to process what she was seeing.

"How did this happen?" Christopher wondered.

"I don't know," Lorelai said, wondering why Rory didn't tell her. Rory told her everything.

"I need a beer," Christopher said, grabbing a bottle of beer from the refrigerator.

"Me, too," Lorelai said and he grabbed a beer for her. She took a drink and looked at him. "Why do you need a beer? I mean, Victoria's been dating for awhile now."

"I needed something stronger than a beer when she started dating," Christopher told her.

"Tequila?" Lorelai questioned.

"Scotch," Christopher told her. "And that was Victoria. I didn't think I had to worry about Rory. I thought she was more interested in books than guys."

"She was. She is," Lorelai said.

_A/N: Thank you for the reviews. In answer to a question about pairings, I'm following the storyline from the show somewhat so any love interests from the show are fair game. I have ideas to continue this for at least all of the seasons where Rory and Victoria are in high school and it would be kind of boring if all of the characters were dating the same person for the entire story, so there aren't really pairings. _

_If there are any pairings that anyone just does not want to read about, let me know and I will let you know if the relationship in question will play a big role in this story. _

_I like Tristan with Victoria and will keep him around depending on feedback. And, no, Tristan and Rory did not kiss and will not kiss in this._

_Let me know if you have any other questions._


	12. First Kiss

Chapter Twelve: First Kiss

"You know, you can get three for two bucks," Dean said from behind Rory, who was pretending to look at cornstarch in the market.

"Oh really? Excellent deal," Rory said.

"You just had a desperate need for some cornstarch?" Dean inquired teasingly.

"Yes, I have very important thickening needs, thank you," Rory told him though she was only in the market because she knew he would be there. "Nice apron."

"Nice uniform," Dean said in response.

"Well, you know, I sewed the buttons on with silver thread so that sets me apart from the crowd," Rory told him. "I guess I should get home."

"Wait a sec," Dean said, stopping her. "You want a pop or something?"

"A pop?" Rory said with a smile.

"Give me a break. In Chicago they call it pop," Dean told her.

"Well, in Connecticut we call it free soda," Rory told him, "and yes, thank you."

They walked over to the soda together. "Alright, guess which is in each hand and you get the soda," Dean said, putting a lemon lime soda and a cola behind his back.

Rory looked at him. "Ok, the whole concept of a free soda is that it's free. You don't have to work for it."

"Sorry, you gotta sing for your supper," Dean told her with a smile.

"Or your soda," Rory said.

"Guess," Dean instructed her.

"Ok," Rory acquiesced, reaching for Dean's hand. "In this hand you have-"

Dean leaned down to kiss her.

"Thank you," Rory said, stunned.

* * *

"Rory," Victoria said, surprised to see her twin at her door. "What are you doing here?"

"Can I come in?" Rory asked.

"Oh, yeah, come in," Victoria invited her in. "Dad's not here."

"I know. I wanted to talk to you," Rory told her.

"Oh. Ok," Victoria said. "You want anything to drink?"

"Soda would be great actually," Rory said, realizing she never actually got her free soda.

Victoria opened the refrigerator door. "Ok, we have Diet Coke or Mountain Dew."

"Coke please," Rory said.

Victoria handed Rory a can of Diet Coke and walked over to the couch. "You said you wanted to talk to me?" Victoria prompted, turning the volume on the TV down. She'd been watching a Real World marathon.

"I got kissed. And I shoplifted," Rory blurted out.

"I've corrupted you," Victoria said proudly.

"It happened so fast. I was just standing there and then he kissed me," Rory said, trying to process what had happened.

"Is he hot?" Victoria asked.

"Yes, he is," Rory told her.

"Nice!" Victoria said.

"Oh my God, he kissed me," Rory said, still trying to process it.

Victoria looked at Rory curiously and smiled. "Wait, was it your first kiss?"

Rory nodded. "He kissed me and I said thank you."

Victoria's smile widened. "You said thank you?"

"Don't laugh," Rory said.

"I'm not laughing. What did he say? You're welcome?" Victoria inquired, trying not to laugh.

"He didn't say anything…I left before he could," Rory said quietly.

"Wait, so he kissed you, you said thank you and then you just left?" Victoria clarified and Rory nodded. "Why? Is he a bad kisser?"

"No," Rory said. "It was nice…I think. I mean, I don't really have any basis for comparison."

"Well, then what's wrong?" Victoria wondered, unable to figure out why her sister was in Hartford talking to her instead of making out with her boy.

"I'm just- I don't know," Rory said, not knowing how to describe how she was feeling.

Rory wasn't quite sure how it happened. She was standing in the market and the next thing she knew Dean was kissing her. It was her first kiss. It was new and exciting. She was freaking out.

Victoria didn't seem to think it was a big deal though.

"Ok, a hot guy kissed you. That's a good thing," Victoria told her.

"No, it is," Rory agreed after a moment.

"Do you like him?" Victoria asked.

"Yeah," Rory said. "I have to go tell Mom."

"What?" Victoria said.

"I have to go tell Mom," Rory repeated.

"No, I heard you. It's just…are you sure you want to tell her?" Victoria asked.

"No," Rory muttered thoughtfully, remembering how her mom had reacted the last time the subject of boys came up. "Did you tell Dad when you got kissed?"

"No," Victoria said definitively. "Look, Rory, dads don't want to hear about their teenage daughters making out with boys."

"Oh," Rory said quietly.

"I mean, he knows I date," Victoria said.

"I don't know," Rory said, wanting to tell her mom but unsure how she would react. "I tell Mom everything, but the last time the subject of boys came up it got very ugly."

"So don't tell her," Victoria said with a shrug.

"Ok," Rory said finally. "Victoria?"

"Yeah?" Victoria said.

"When was your first kiss with Tristan?" Rory asked curiously.

Victoria thought for a moment. "Um, it was at Madeline's party the first week of school."

"You've been together for, what, two months now?" Rory inquired.

"No," Victoria said, shaking her head. "We weren't official until the party at Tristan's house and then we broke up the week of my- our birthday."

"You seem very comfortable with him," Rory noted.

"Well, yeah," Victoria said with a slight laugh.

"How long did it take you to get comfortable with him?" Rory asked.

"I was never _not_ comfortable with him," Victoria told her honestly.

"I don't think I'll ever be comfortable with Dean. God, I can't believe I said thank you. I'm stupid," Rory said.

"You're not stupid. You're sweet and innocent. Some guys like that," Victoria told her.

"Yeah, maybe," Rory said though she still felt dumb.

* * *

"Hey, sorry I'm late," Rory said when she walked into her house the following evening.

"Oh, hey, no big deal," Lorelai said, though she'd been waiting for Rory. "There's Chinese in the fridge."

"Ok," Rory said, heading into the kitchen.

Lorelai followed Rory into the kitchen. "So…kiss any good boys lately?"

Rory looked at her mom in surprise. "Who…?"

"Miss Patty," Lorelai told her.

"Of course," Rory mumbled.

"So he's cute," Lorelai commented, trying to get Rory to talk to her.

"Yeah, he is," Rory agreed quietly.

"Can he spell?" Lorelai said.

Rory shot her a look. "He can spell and read. How long have you known?"

"Since about ten minutes after it happened. You didn't think you were going to be able to keep it a secret, did you? You were making out in the market," Lorelai pointed out.

"We weren't making out. It was just one kiss," Rory corrected.

"Yeah, well, according to Miss Patty it was a scene from Nine ½ Weeks," Lorelai said.

"You've known all this time? Last night? At Luke's this morning?" Rory said.

"Yeah," Lorelai confirmed.

"You could have said something," Rory told her.

"Now, funny, I was going to say the same thing to you," Lorelai said pointedly, a little hurt that Rory hadn't told her what happened herself.

"So…?" Rory said, expecting her mom to have something to say.

"So what?" Lorelai said.

"What now?" Rory wondered.

"Now? Nothing," Lorelai told her.

"No? No lecture about kissing a boy?" Rory inquired.

"No. Why? Did you do it wrong?" Lorelai said in response, trying to be cool about this.

"No…I don't think," Rory said quietly.

"I didn't love the way I found out," Lorelai said honestly, "but you're getting older. These things are bound to happen occasionally. Actually I think it's great," she said, no longer being honest.

Rory looked at her. "No, you don't."

"Yes, I do. I'm thrilled," Lorelai insisted.

Rory raised an eyebrow. "Thrilled?"

"Yeah," Lorelai said.

"You're completely weirded out by this, aren't you?" Rory said, feeling awkward.

"No, you're crazy. I'm perfectly fine with it," Lorelai said.

"You don't seem fine. You seem the complete opposite of fine," Rory told her.

"Well, you're projecting that on me because you don't want to think I'm fine when I am, as I have said, fine," Lorelai told her.

"Ok," Rory said, though she didn't think her mom was really fine.

"Never been finer," Lorelai told her, knowing Rory didn't believe her.

"Got it," Rory said, taking the Chinese out of the refrigerator. "You want some?"

* * *

"Mom knows about Dean," Rory told Victoria at school the next day.

"You decided to tell her?" Victoria said, surprised.

"No. Miss Patty told her," Rory said.

"Miss Patty?" Victoria frowned in confusion.

"She teaches dance," Rory told her.

"I didn't think you danced anymore," Victoria said, growing more confused.

"No, I don't. She just knows everything that's going on in town," Rory explained.

Victoria gave her a weird look. "A dance teacher who doesn't teach you dance knows Dean kissed you?"

"Well, he kissed me in the market," Rory said.

"Ok, see, you should have told me that before," Victoria told her.

"Why?" Rory asked, not thinking the location was important.

"I thought he kissed you in his house or your house or I don't know…his car. Not in a public place," Victoria told her.

"You make out with Tristan in school," Rory pointed out, feeling like she had to defend herself.

"Ok, yes, but when we make out in school, it doesn't make the front page of the Stars Hollow Daily News," Victoria pointed out.

"The Stars Hollow Gazette," Rory corrected automatically.

"What?" Victoria said.

"It's not called the Stars Hollow Daily News. It's called the Stars Hollow Gazette," Rory informed her.

"Ok, so not the point," Victoria told her. "If I had known that the townspeople who stalk members of our family in their spare time witnessed the kiss, I would have told you to tell Lorelai."

"There was no stalking," Rory told her.

"Uh, ok," Victoria said, though she still thought it sounded a little stalker-ish.

"There wasn't," Rory insisted.

"So what did Lorelai say?" Victoria wondered.

"Nothing really," Rory told her. "I mean, she said she was fine with it, but…I don't think she was. She was being weird."

"Yeah, she was weird when she talked to me about Tristan, too," Victoria told her.

* * *

"Got it!" Rory said triumphantly, returning from the video store later that night.

"Score! You know, on the one hand, I'm glad it was in, but on the other hand, what kind of world do we live in where no one has rented Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory?" Lorelai said.

"Well, we rented it," Rory pointed out.

"Well, thank God for us. Oh, hey, I invited your friend," Lorelai told her.

"What friend?" Rory asked.

"Dean," Lorelai told her.

Rory stopped walking, upset. "What?"

"Yeah, I told him what we were doing tonight and he was totally into it so- why are you looking at me like that?" Lorelai wondered, seeing the look of horror on Rory's face.

"You invited Dean? To our house?" Rory said in disbelief.

"Yes," Lorelai confirmed.

"Are you crazy?" Rory said angrily.

"Why are you mad?" Lorelai asked.

"Because we haven't even been out on a date by ourselves yet," Rory told her. "My first date with Dean is going to be with my mother. What is wrong with you?"

"I'm sorry. I thought you'd be happy about this," Lorelai told her.

She honestly didn't think Rory would be mad.

Rory shot her a look. "In what universe would I be happy? This isn't Amish country. Girls and boys usually date alone."

"I didn't think of it as a date. I thought of it more as a hanging out kind of session," Lorelai told her.

"Well, I don't want our first hanging out session to be with my mother either," Rory muttered unhappily.

"Stop saying mother like that," Lorelai said.

"Like what?" Rory asked.

"Like there's supposed to be another word after it," Lorelai said.

"I can't believe you did this. I'm so humiliated," Rory complained.

"You're totally overreacting. I invited him to a movie and pizza, not to Niagara Falls," Lorelai told her, not seeing what the big deal was.

"He's the boy that I like," Rory pointed out.

"I know. I looked for one that you hated, but it was really short notice," Lorelai said.

"And now he's forced to come over and sit with me and my mother and eat crap and watch a movie?" Rory said, unable to believe this was happening.

"Well, I just invited a friend of yours to hang out. What's the big deal? I mean, what if Lane had done it?" Lorelai asked, really not understanding.

"You're not Lane. You're my mother. You inviting him over is like Grandma inviting a guy you liked over," Rory told her.

She had a really close bond with Lorelai and they did things together that a normal mother and daughter wouldn't do, but Lorelai was still her mother…

"You're comparing me to my mother?" Lorelai asked, horrified.

"No, I just-"

"I'm Emily Gilmore? My, how the mighty have fallen," Lorelai said.

"I didn't mean that," Rory said, feeling a pang of guilt.

However mad she was, Rory didn't want to hurt her mom.

"I wasn't trying to humiliate you," Lorelai said honestly.

"I know," Rory acknowledged, though she still wasn't happy about this.

"If I was Emily Gilmore, I'd be trying to humiliate you," Lorelai pointed out.

"I just-"

"Look, I'm sorry, ok? I screwed up. I was trying to- look, I'll go un-invite him. I'll tell him that it's cancelled on account of I just found out I'm my mother and I have to go into intensive therapy right now," Lorelai apologized, trying to fix things.

"No, you can't un-invite him. He'll think I totally wigged out or something," Rory said, knowing he would have to come over now.

"Well, then I'll just disappear and you guys can be alone," Lorelai told her.

Rory shot her a look. "Oh, and have it look like my mom arranged a date for me? No!"

"Hey, what if Victoria comes? Then it won't look like I arranged a date for you," Lorelai suggested.

"Maybe," Rory said.

It still sucked, but it might be a little better if Victoria was there. It wouldn't look like Lorelai had arranged a date for her and it wouldn't be just her, Dean, and her mom.

* * *

"You have to come over," Rory said when Victoria answered the phone.

"Now?" Victoria questioned, looking at Tristan, who had come over after school since her dad had a date.

"Yes, now," Rory told her. "Mom invited Dean over."

"What?" Victoria said, sitting up on her bed.

"She invited him over to eat crap and watch a movie. We haven't even been on a date yet and now it looks like my mom arranged a date for me. You have to come over," Rory told her, knowing Victoria would understand why she was so upset.

"What was she thinking?" Victoria asked softly.

"I don't know," Rory said miserably.

"What time do you want me there?" Victoria asked after a moment.

"Seven," Rory said gratefully.

"I thought we were hanging out tonight," Tristan said when Victoria hung up with Rory.

"We are," Victoria said with a smile. "We're going to Stars Hollow to watch a movie with Lorelai, Rory and Dean."

"Who's Dean?" Tristan inquired curiously.

"Rory's new boyfriend," Victoria told him.

Tristan looked surprised. "Rory has a boyfriend?"

"She does now," Victoria told him. "And Lorelai invited him over."

"The guy's supposed to ask the girl out," Tristan said.

"As opposed to the girl's mom asking the guy out for her?" Victoria smirked slightly, able to see the humor in the situation, though she knew she wouldn't think it was funny if Lorelai had done that to her. "Yes, I know. And Rory knows. I think Lorelai's the only one who doesn't know."

Tristan looked at her. "So we're going on a double date with your sister and your mom's going to be the fifth wheel?"

He thought it would be an entertaining evening.

Rory was sweet and innocent. It was why Tristan enjoyed teasing her so much.

He knew without Victoria telling him that Rory didn't have a lot of experience with boys and dating.

Rory hadn't known what to do when he flirted with her and it was obvious he made her nervous.

Tristan would have a front row seat to watch Rory on her first date—a date her mother had set up for her.

* * *

"Rory? Lorelai?" Victoria had knocked, but no one answered so she let herself in.

"In my room," Rory called.

Victoria headed back to Rory's room and Tristan followed her.

"I don't know what to wear," Rory said, staring at the clothes on her bed.

"Something short and tight," Tristan recommended and Victoria shot him a look.

"Tristan? What are you doing here?" Rory said with a frown, turning around.

She may have accepted Tristan's apology, but she didn't want to spend any more time with him than she absolutely had to. She didn't like him.

"You said Dean was coming so I brought Tristan," Victoria told her.

"Just when I thought tonight couldn't get any worse," Rory muttered.

"You know, I'm still here," Tristan reminded them.

Rory rolled her eyes. "You're not offended."

"I'm not?" Tristan said.

"No. You're not," Rory told him.

"Hey, are you having a party in here and you didn't invite me?" Lorelai said, walking into Rory's room.

"Hi, Lorelai," Tristan greeted.

"Tristan, hi," Lorelai said, surprised to see him. "Uh, Victoria, why don't you show Tristan around?"

"Ok." Victoria turned to Tristan. "Come on."

"You know, I don't think they want me here," Tristan drawled as they walked into the living rom.

"Hot _and_ smart. That's why I like you," Victoria said. "So this house is like two bedrooms and I've never even been in Lorelai's room. I can't help but think that show you around was code for get the hell out of Rory's room."

"I think you're right," Tristan told her with a grin.

* * *

"I can't believe she brought Tristan," Rory said to Lorelai once they were alone in her room.

"I can't believe you're wearing that," Lorelai said.

"I have nothing to wear," Rory told her.

"Do you want some help?" Lorelai offered with a smile.

"No," Rory said, then sighed. "Yes."

Lorelai looked at the clothes and held up an outfit. "All right, this says hello, I'm hip and cute, but also relaxed since this is something I just threw on even though it looks fantastic on me."

"How'd you do that?" Rory wondered.

"What?" Lorelai said.

"I've been staring at that top for twenty minutes. It was just a top. You walked in and in three seconds it's an outfit," Rory told her.

"It comes from years of experiencing fashion brain freeze like the one you just had," Lorelai said.

There was a knock on the door and they heard Victoria's voice. "Hey, guys, it's just me. Can I come in?"

"Yeah," Rory told her.

"Look, sorry I brought Tristan," Victoria said, walking in and shutting the door behind her. "I was with him when you called and I just thought it would be good to have another guy here. I mean, I thought it would be kind of weird if it was just Dean, you, your mom, and your sister."

"It's ok," Rory said quietly.

"Is it really?" Victoria asked. "Because we can go…"

"No, stay," Rory told her.

"Are you sure?" Victoria asked.

Rory nodded. "Yeah."

"You look cute," Victoria complimented. "I like this better than the robe."

"Thanks, I think," Rory said.

"You're welcome," Victoria said with a smile.

"How do you guys both know exactly what to do and what to say with guys and I'm a total spaz?" Rory wondered.

"You'll get there," Lorelai told her.

"I mean, I've watched you – both of you – when you talk to guys. You have a comeback for everything, you make them laugh, you smile right-"

"We smile right?" Lorelai repeated with a smile.

"I didn't know there was a wrong way to smile," Victoria said, not bothering to hide her amusement.

"Well, there is and I'll never be able to do it," Rory told her.

"Uh, Rory, we're twins. We have the same smile," Victoria pointed out.

"And you'll get used to the talking part," Lorelai assured her.

"Promise?" Rory said.

"Promise," Lorelai replied. "Now, dab on some lip gloss, clear but fruity. Maybe a little mascara. Wear your hair down and your attitude high."

_A/N: Thank you for the reviews. I really appreciate it. The feedback helps me edit and gives me ideas. _

_I heard you and most of you will like who Lorelai, Rory and Victoria end up with in this story. _

_Bear with me through the first part where Rory is dating Dean-I don't like him either, but I'm trying to somewhat follow the show for at least the first season._


	13. A Very Weird Town

Chapter Thirteen: A Very Weird Town

Rory looked at the clock. "What time did you tell him to get here?"

"Seven," Lorelai told her.

"Maybe something happened. Maybe he's not coming," Rory said.

"Maybe he's just late, Miss German Train," Lorelai said, trying to calm Rory down.

"At least I was on time," Tristan said.

Rory looked at him. "What, do you want a medal or something?"

Lorelai walked over to the window. "Oops."

"What?" Rory said worriedly, hurrying over to the window. She winced and looked at her mom. "They've got Dean."

"Wait here," Lorelai told her, going outside to save Dean from Babette and Morey.

"Who has Dean?" Tristan asked curiously, joining Rory at the window.

"Babette and Morey," Rory mumbled.

"This is a very weird town," Tristan commented.

"Full of very weird people," Victoria added.

"I'm sorry I'm late. I got here like a half hour ago," Dean said apologetically as he walked in.

"We believe you," Rory said.

"We'd believe you if you said you got here three hours ago," Lorelai told him.

"Hey, you must be Victoria," Dean said with a friendly smile, seeing Victoria.

Victoria nodded. "That I am. And this is Tristan."

"Her boyfriend," Tristan said, putting a proprietary arm around Victoria's shoulders.

Victoria looked at Tristan, unsure whether to be amused or annoyed. "He wasn't flirting with me, you know."

Dean looked horrified. "No! I wasn't."

"I know," Rory assured him.

"So Dean, how do you like it here in Stars Hollow?" Lorelai asked, breaking the awkward silence that followed.

"I like it. It's quiet, but nice. I like all the trees everywhere," Dean answered.

"Yeah, the trees are something. When Rory was little, she found out that one was called a Weeping Willow so she spent hours trying to cheer it up. You know, like telling it jokes and-" Lorelai stopped talking suddenly when she saw the look of horror on Rory's face. "No, I'm sorry, that was me. Would you like a tour of the house?"

"Ok," Dean agreed.

"Ok, so this is the living room where we do our living," Lorelai told him, turning an embarrassing picture of Rory over before Dean saw it. Tristan however saw and laughed quietly.

"And, um, upstairs is my room and the good bathroom," Lorelai continued the tour. "And the kitchen is right through here. You ever heard a fridge yodel before?"

"Thank you," Rory whispered to her mom when Dean walked into the kitchen.

She did not want Dean to see that picture. It was bad enough that Tristan had seen it. She liked Dean…

"You're welcome," Lorelai whispered back.

While Lorelai was showing Dean the kitchen, the doorbell rang. "Oh, I'll get that. Rory, you take over as tour guide. Make sure you show him the emergency exits," Lorelai told Rory.

"That's my mom," Rory said once Lorelai left.

"She's got energy," Dean commented.

"Yeah, well, she's ninety percent water, ten percent caffeine," Rory said.

"So what's in there?" Dean nodded at Rory's room.

"Um, that's my room," Rory replied, a little uncomfortable.

"Really? Can I see it?" Dean asked, walking into her room and looking around. "Wow. Very clean." He picked up a CD. "How much does it suck that they use Pink Moon in a Volkswagen commercial?"

"Oh, I know," Rory agreed.

"So you gonna come in?" Dean said, seeing that she hadn't moved from the doorway.

"Oh, no, I've seen it," Rory told him.

"I mean, you look like you're glued to the door there," Dean said.

"No, I'm just, uh, observing my room from a new perspective. You know, I hardly ever stand here. It's really making me rethink my throw pillows," Rory told him.

"You know, I was hurt when I thought it was me. I feel a little better now," Tristan told Victoria, watching how Rory reacted to having Dean in her room from the kitchen.

"I've never seen her this nervous before," Victoria commented.

"I have," Tristan said with a grin. He'd _made_ her that nervous before.

"We should give them some privacy," Victoria said, feeling bad for her sister.

"Oh yeah, I was just gonna suggest they get a room," Tristan said sarcastically, but he followed Victoria into the other room anyway.

"Hi, I'm Sookie. I'm a friend of Lorelai's. Nice to meet you, Dean," Sookie said from the entryway as soon as she saw Tristan.

Lorelai turned around and saw Tristan and Victoria. "Sookie, that's not Dean."

"Who is it then?" Soak asked. "Because you said-"

"It's Tristan," Lorelai said, cutting her off.

"Oh! Tristan," Sookie said, recognizing the name right away. "Nice to meet you, Tristan."

"Nice to meet you," Tristan said with a smile.

"Bye, Sookie," Lorelai said, trying to get rid of Sookie before Rory saw her.

"But I just wanted-"

"No," Lorelai told her. "Bye."

"You told Sookie about us," Tristan said, sounding smug.

"Yes, she was the first person I called when we got back together," Victoria said dryly.

"I told Sookie about you two. I was telling her about Victoria," Lorelai said guiltily.

Rory was already mad at her. Lorelai didn't need her other kid mad at her, too.

Victoria smiled, a little amused. "Lorelai, it's ok. I'm not mad."

"You're not?" Lorelai said, slightly surprised.

"No. I'm not," Victoria confirmed.

"Really? Because Rory would kill me," Lorelai said, wanting to make sure Victoria really wasn't mad.

"Well, I'm not Rory," Victoria said flatly.

Sometimes she felt like Lorelai expected her to act like Rory. They may look alike, but they were two very different people.

"No, I know that," Lorelai said quickly.

Lorelai knew that Victoria and Rory were different.

At first she thought it had to do with how they were raised. She'd left her parents' world and taken Rory with her while Christopher had finished high school and gone to Princeton for a year, leaving Victoria with his parents to be raised the same way he and Lorelai were. Even after he returned, the Haydens were involved in Victoria's life. Victoria had grown up in a world with servants, private schools, and expensive cars.

Now that she knew Victoria a little better, Lorelai knew that it was more than the two different worlds her daughters were from. Rory was a bookworm, whereas Victoria was a social butterfly.

It wasn't that Lorelai loved Rory more than she loved Victoria, because she didn't. She just worried about Victoria more. Victoria was just like Lorelai at sixteen and it scared her a little.

"Mom, is that the pizza?" Rory called from her room, interrupting Lorelai's thoughts.

"Yeah," Lorelai answered. "Are you hungry?"

"Starving," Dean told her as he and Rory came into the entryway.

"Where's the pizza?" Rory wondered.

"The pizza's, uh…"

"Pizza!" Sookie said, coming back in with the pizza. "Just bringing in the pizza. Hi, I'm Sookie."

She'd gotten to her car before she realized she had their pizza. She'd been thrilled to have an excuse to go back in and meet Dean.

"Hi," Dean said awkwardly.

"Nice to meet you, Dean. I mean, not that I knew you were Dean. But you do look like a Dean. Doesn't he look like a Dean?" Sookie said.

"Do I look like a Dean?" Tristan said quietly to Victoria.

"James Dean maybe," Victoria whispered.

"Yeah. Of all the people in this room, he looks most like a Dean," Lorelai answered Sookie, knowing Rory was not going to be happy about this. "Bye, Sookie. Have fun!"

"Here, um, I'll take that," Dean said, taking the pizza from Lorelai.

"Oh, thanks. Great. The coffee table's fine," Lorelai told him. She waited until he was out of earshot, then turned to Rory. "I did not invite her here."

Rory shot her a look. "Why didn't you just set up a camera and broadcast it over the Internet?"

"Because I don't think that big," Lorelai told her.

* * *

"Oh, oompa loompas!" Lorelai exclaimed as they watched the movie.

Rory looked at Dean. "My mom has a thing for the oompa loompas."

"What kind of a thing?" Victoria said with a grin.

"I don't think finding them amusing constitutes a thing," Lorelai told them.

"No, but having a recurring dream about marrying one does," Rory responded with a smile.

"Is it the green hair? Maybe we could get Mr. Medina to dye his hair green," Victoria said teasingly.

Rory looked at Tristan, but he didn't look the least bit surprised. She shot Victoria a look. "You told him about Mom and Mr. Medina?"

"Yeah," Victoria said.

"I'm her boyfriend," Tristan reminded Rory, seeing that she was mad at Victoria.

"Do you get a dime every time you say that or something?" Rory said.

Victoria looked at Rory. "Rory, Tristan didn't do anything."

"I don't understand why you would tell him," Rory said, upset.

"He's my boyfriend," Victoria said quietly.

"Now he's going to tell everyone. And they probably aren't going to be congratulating us," Rory muttered.

"Rory, he's not going to say anything," Victoria told her.

"Are you?" Rory asked wearily, directing the question to Tristan.

Tristan looked at Rory. "You don't want me to tell everyone that your mom is dating our English teacher?"

"No!" Rory exclaimed.

"Well, ok," Tristan said. "All you had to do was ask nicely."

"So boys, come on, tell us some of your embarrassing secrets," Lorelai said now that they'd discussed her thing for oompa loompas and Max.

Dean grinned. "Well, I have no embarrassing secrets."

"I bet I know one," Rory said with a smile.

"What?" Dean inquired.

"The theme from Ice Castles makes you cry," Rory said.

"That's not true," Dean told her.

"Oh, I've got one. At the end of The Way We Were, you wanted Robert Redford to dump his wife and kid for Barbra Streisand," Lorelai said.

"I've never seen The Way We Were," Dean told her.

"Are you kidding?" Rory said.

"What are you waiting for? Heartache, laughter-"

"Communism," Rory finished for her mom.

"All in one neat package," Lorelai told him.

"I'll have to experience that sometime," Dean said.

"Next movie night," Lorelai told him.

"Am I invited?" Tristan asked.

"Sure," Lorelai said after a moment's hesitation. "I'll get the popcorn."

"Bring in the spray cheese," Rory said as her mom headed into the kitchen.

"So, uh, at what point does the outsider get to suggest a movie for movie night?" Dean wondered.

Tristan looked at Dean. "Really?"

"What?" Dean said.

Tristan shrugged. "Nothing. I just thought you were going to ask when you were going to go on a date without her mommy, that's all."

"Tristan," Victoria said in a warning tone.

Dean glared at Tristan. "What's your problem?"

"I don't have a problem. Victoria and I have already gone out without a chaperone," Tristan said.

"Well, good for you," Dean told him.

"Why, thank you. You know, you two make a very cute couple," Tristan commented, sounding condescending.

"Stop," Dean said in a warning tone.

"Ok, fine. I'll let you two get back to your date while her mom isn't in here. I think you've got a couple of minutes," Tristan said, then turned to Victoria. "That's enough time for us to go over here."

Tristan and Victoria moved from their spots on the floor next to Dean and Rory to the couch and started kissing.

* * *

"Mom!" Rory exclaimed, walking into the kitchen a little while later.

Tristan was still making out with her sister and Rory was more than a little uncomfortable.

Rory was in there alone with Dean. She didn't know what to do. She didn't know if he'd kiss her again.

"What?" Lorelai said, looking up from a magazine.

"What are you doing in here?" Rory demanded.

"Trying to find the best bathing suit for my bust size," Lorelai told her.

"Well, get back in there!" Rory told her.

"Why? What happened? Did the bag boy try something?" Lorelai asked worriedly.

"No," Rory told her. "Tristan was being a jerk. He said something to Dean. Dean's perfect. He's sitting in there and he's watching and he smells really good."

"What?" Lorelai said.

"He smells really good and he looks amazing and I am stupid. I said thank you," Rory confessed.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. You said thank you?" Lorelai said.

"When he kissed me," Rory told her.

Lorelai frowned. "He kissed you again? What, is he just out of prison or something?"

"No, not now. The other day. At the store," Rory told her.

"Oh, all right. Strike the prison comment," Lorelai said. "He kissed you and you said thank you?"

"Yes," Rory confirmed.

Lorelai smiled. "Well, that was very polite."

"Don't smile. That's the same look Victoria had when I told her," Rory said.

Lorelai looked hurt. "You told Victoria before me?"

"I wanted to tell you. Really. I did," Rory told her.

"Then why didn't you?" Lorelai wondered.

"I just got scared," Rory said honestly.

"It's ok. I'm not mad. I just don't really want you taking dating advice from a sixteen year old kid who is making out with Tristan in the living room right now," Lorelai told her.

Rory looked at her mom. "You know what they're doing in there?"

"Well, I do now," Lorelai said since Rory had just confirmed it.

"How'd you know?" Rory wondered.

"Because it's what I would have done if my mother had left me alone with my boyfriend for an extended period of time when I was sixteen," Lorelai said honestly.

"You know Victoria and Tristan are in there making out. And I don't know what I'm doing here. You're sitting in the kitchen. What kind of chaperone are you?" Rory said.

"Me? I'm not trying to be a chaperone. I'm trying to be a girlfriend," Lorelai told her.

"Well, switch gears because I'm freaking out here!" Rory told her.

Lorelai looked at Rory. "You really like him, don't you?"

"Yeah," Rory answered.

"Well, ok then. Just calm down," Lorelai told her.

"I just don't want to do or say anything else that's gonna be remotely moronic," Rory said.

"I'm afraid once your heart is involved it all comes out in Moron," Lorelai told her.

"Just please come back in," Rory said.

"Ok, let's go then," Lorelai said, standing up.

"Wait! We can't go back in together though because that would be too obvious," Rory said, stopping her.

"All right. Ok. I'll go in first and you go to the bathroom," Lorelai told her.

* * *

Lorelai coughed as she walked into the living room and then cleared her throat. "Hi, I'm back."

Victoria pulled away from Tristan and looked at Lorelai, amused by the coughing.

"Rory went to wash her face," Lorelai told them.

"Oh, ok," Dean said as Lorelai sat down next to him.

Lorelai turned the TV off and looked at Dean. "I don't exactly know how to say this, but, um, this is a very different kind of household you walked into tonight."

"Yeah, I know," Dean said.

"See, Rory is my daughter," Lorelai said.

Dean rolled his eyes. "Ah, here comes the talk."

"How about I talk, you listen?" Lorelai said with an edge to her voice.

"Uh, we should go," Victoria said suddenly, standing up.

Lorelai looked over at Victoria and nodded.

She wasn't going to say anything to Victoria's boyfriend anyway. She didn't think anything she said to Tristan would make a difference in how he treated Victoria.

Lorelai didn't like Tristan. She didn't like how he treated Rory when she started Chilton and she didn't love walking in on him making out with her kid at her parents' house or in her living room. He seemed smug and arrogant.

"Bye, hon," Lorelai said as Victoria gave her a quick hug. "Call me when you get home."

"It was nice seeing you again," Tristan said politely.

"Yeah, you, too," Lorelai said halfheartedly. She waited until they left, then turned back to Dean. "So where was I? Rory is a smart kid. She's never been much for guys so the fact that she likes you means a lot. I don't believe she'd waste her time with some loser."

"But you're watching me," Dean said knowingly.

"Sweetheart, the whole town is watching you. That girl in there is beloved around here. You hurt her, there's not a safe place within a hundred miles for you to hide. This is a very small, weird place you've moved to."

"I've noticed," Dean told her.

"So just know all eyes are on you," Lorelai warned him.

"Anything else?" Dean wondered.

"She's not going on your motorcycle," Lorelai said.

"I don't have a motorcycle," Dean told her.

"She's not going on your motorcycle," Lorelai repeated.

"Fine, she won't go on my motorcycle," Dean said, exasperated.

"Curfew will be enforced, you will not detract from her schoolwork, and you're going to start handling those lemons better," Lorelai told him.

Dean frowned in confusion. "What?"

"Don't interrupt me when I'm speaking. I reserve the right to change, alter, tweak, or add to this list of rules at any given time without any written notice. Am I clear?" Lorelai said.

"You're clear," Dean told her.

"Good," Lorelai said.

* * *

"I'm home," Victoria said. She'd just walked into her apartment and was calling Lorelai to let her know she was home.

"Finally! Does that fancy sports car of Tristan's only go ten miles an hour?" Lorelai said. It had been over an hour since they left and it only took thirty minutes to get to Hartford.

"We stopped for coffee," Victoria told her.

"Oh, ok. Thanks for coming tonight. It was a good thing you did for Rory," Lorelai said.

"I shouldn't have brought Tristan," Victoria said quietly.

"Rory doesn't like him," Lorelai said honestly.

"You don't like him," Victoria said knowingly.

"Victoria, I just had him over to watch a movie," Lorelai hedged.

"And that was very nice of you. You know what would have been nicer?" Victoria said.

"What?" Lorelai said with a sigh.

"If he hadn't known that you didn't want him there within five minutes," Victoria told her.

"He knew?" Lorelai said, genuinely surprised.

While she hadn't wanted him there, Lorelai didn't think it had been that obvious.

"He's not stupid," Victoria told her.

"Ok," Lorelai said flatly.

"You don't know him," Victoria said.

"I know enough," Lorelai said softly.

"No, you don't," Victoria argued.

"Well, I know how he treated Rory when she started that school and I know he said something to Dean tonight," Lorelai told her.

"He was just joking. He didn't mean anything by it," Victoria told her.

"Well, then it wasn't funny," Lorelai said pointedly.

"So he doesn't have a promising career as a comedian. That doesn't make him a bad guy," Victoria defended.

"Ok, fine," Lorelai said.

"How'd the talk go?" Victoria asked, changing the subject.

"Good. I promised to hunt him down if he hurts her," Lorelai said.

"And then what? Beat him over the head with your handbag?" Victoria said with a smile.

"Stilettos. Much more effective," Lorelai told her.

"Ah, very kick ass," Victoria said.

"Did your dad already have the talk with Tristan or do I need to threaten him with my stilettos?" Lorelai asked.

"Close. Dad's version of the talk was telling him that he got kicked out of school for streaking. It was very scary," Victoria said, knowing Lorelai wasn't serious.

"Well, good. As long as he's properly terrified," Lorelai said.


	14. The Chilton Formal

Chapter Fourteen: The Chilton Formal

"Lorelai, what are you doing?" Emily asked with a frown.

"Getting rid of the avocado." Lorelai glanced up as she moved the avocado on her plate to the side. It was Friday night dinner.

"Since when do you not like avocado?" Emily wondered.

"Since the day I said gross, what is this and you said avocado," Lorelai told her.

"I'm focusing on you now," Emily said, looking at Rory. "Tell me all about the Chilton formal next week."

"There's a formal?" Lorelai said.

"How do you know about the formal?" Rory asked Emily.

"Yeah, how do you know about the formal?" Lorelai echoed.

"I read my Chilton newsletter," Emily told them.

Lorelai stared at Emily. "Since when do you get a Chilton newsletter?"

"Well, as a major contributor to Rory's education, I figured I had the right to ask for a newsletter to be sent to my house," Emily told her.

"Are you serious?" Lorelai said.

"And it's a good thing, too, since you don't bother to read yours. One of us should be up-to-date on the goings on at Rory's school," Emily said haughtily.

"Hey, Mom, I read my newsletter," Lorelai told her mom even though she hadn't.

"You did?" Emily said, not really believing her for a second.

"That's right," Lorelai said.

"What was the picture on the cover?" Emily asked.

"It was a picture of a really rich kid in plaid," Lorelai guessed.

Emily showed Lorelai the newsletter. "It was a spotted owl."

"In plaid," Lorelai said and Rory giggled.

"The owls are endangered and Chilton is taking donations to help them," Emily told Lorelai, then turned to Rory. "You gave a very nice one, in case you're interested."

"Mom, don't be giving donations on Rory's behalf. I'll do that," Lorelai told her.

"How can you do that when you don't bother to read the newsletter?" Emily challenged her.

"I read the newsletter," Lorelai said.

"You didn't know they were taking donations," Emily pointed out.

"It's a private school. They're always taking donations. They teach a class in it. I'll get them next time," Lorelai said.

"Well, what about the owls?" Emily asked.

"They'll live," Lorelai told her.

"Well, apparently they won't, dear. That's why they need the donations in the first place," Emily said.

"So you have a formal coming up?" Lorelai said to Rory, trying to change the subject.

"Yeah, but I don't think I'm going to go," Rory replied.

"Nonsense. Of course you're going," Emily told her.

"Mom, if Rory doesn't want to go, she doesn't have to go," Lorelai said.

"I don't understand why she wouldn't want to go," Emily said honestly.

"I know you don't," Lorelai told her.

"I'm gonna go get another Coke," Rory said, excusing herself.

"Victoria's going. Why wouldn't Rory want to go?" Emily continued.

Lorelai stared at her mom. "How do you know Victoria's going?"

Lorelai didn't even know Victoria was going and Victoria was _her_ daughter.

"She's going with Tristan DuGrey. Your father does business with Tristan's grandfather," Emily said in a matter of fact tone.

"And they talk about the Chilton formal during their business meetings?" Lorelai said incredulously.

"No. They talk about the fact that our granddaughter is dating Janlen's grandson," Emily corrected.

"Oh, ok," Lorelai said, though she still thought it was a little weird.

"What did you say to her?" Emily demanded.

"To Victoria?" Lorelai said.

"To Rory," Emily said impatiently. "If she doesn't want to go, it must be because of something you said."

"Mom, I promise all I ever said to her about dances is that you go, you dance, you have punch, you eat, you take a picture, you get auctioned off to a biker gang from Sausalito," Lorelai said.

"Lorelai, this is serious," Emily said, irritated.

"Mom, I said nothing, ok? Rory's disdain of formals is totally her own. Let's just drop it please," Lorelai pleaded.

* * *

"Why didn't you mention the dance?" Lorelai glanced at Rory as they drove home.

"'Cause I'm not going," Rory said.

"Oh. But why aren't you going?" Lorelai wondered.

"'Cause I hate dances," Rory told her.

"Good answer. Except you've never actually been to a dance," Lorelai pointed out.

"So?" Rory said, giving her mom a weird look.

"So you really have nothing to compare it to," Lorelai told her.

"No, but I can imagine it," Rory told her.

"That's true. However, not really since you've never actually been to one. You're basing all your dance opinions on one midnight viewing of Sixteen Candles," Lorelai said.

"So?" Rory said.

"So you should have a decent reason for hating something before you really decide you hate it," Lorelai told her.

"Trust me, I'll hate it. It'll be stuffy and boring. The music will suck. And none of the kids at school like me," Rory said knowingly.

"Victoria likes you," Lorelai pointed out.

"That's true, but Victoria's going with Tristan, whose favorite pastime is making me miserable," Rory said.

"Well, maybe, it'll be all sparkly and exciting and you'll be standing on the dance floor listening to Tom Waits with some great-looking guy staring at you so hard that you don't even realize that Tristan has just been eaten by a bear," Lorelai said.

"Tristan will be dancing with Victoria. If the bear eats Tristan, it will probably have Victoria for dessert," Rory pointed out.

"Ok, forget the bear," Lorelai said.

Rory looked at her mom. "Who would I go with?"

"I don't know. Maybe the guy who hangs out in our trees all day waiting for you to come home," Lorelai suggested.

Rory shot her mom a look. "Dean does not hang out in trees."

"He bashed his head on a branch last week when I came out of the house too quickly," Lorelai told her.

"Why do you care all of a sudden if I go?" Rory wondered.

"I don't care if you go. I just don't want you to miss any experience because you're too afraid," Lorelai told her.

"I'm afraid? Of what?" Rory inquired.

"Of asking Dean, of him saying no, of going to a dance with a bunch of kids who haven't accepted you yet, of dancing in public, of finding out you should never be dancing in public," Lorelai listed off.

"Ok, ok, I get it," Rory told her.

"Listen, I know you are not Miss Party Girl and I love you for that, but sometimes I wonder do you not join in because you really don't want to or because you're too shy? If the reason you don't want to go is because you really don't want to go and not because you are in any way afraid, then this is the last time I'll mention it, I promise," Lorelai told her.

It was funny. She had one kid who was too afraid to ask her boyfriend to the dance and another kid who would probably be making out with her boyfriend in the parking lot. Not that she wanted Rory and Dean to be making out in the parking lot because she didn't. She just worried that Rory was too shy sometimes.

"I don't have a dress," Rory said uncertainly.

"I could make you one," Lorelai said.

* * *

Victoria stared at her dad in horror. "You asked Grandmother to take me shopping?"

"You've gone shopping with her before," Christopher said, not understanding why she was looking at him like that.

Victoria had told him she needed a dress and those dresses were expensive. He'd enlisted his mother's help because she would buy Victoria any dress she wanted.

"Yes, but not for a dress for a dance," Victoria said slowly. "They don't know about Tristan and I wanted it to stay that way."

"I didn't say anything about Tristan," Christopher told her.

Victoria shot him a look. "You don't think she's going to ask who I'm going with?"

"Oh, um…"

"I mean, these are the people who think teenage pregnancy is genetic and I'm predisposed to it," Victoria said.

"You got your hair, eyes and sarcasm from your mom and me, but that's where it ends. No teenage pregnancy," Christopher told her.

"You're coming with us," Victoria told him.

"I am?" Christopher said.

"Yes," Victoria told him, "to make sure she buys me a dress. Not a chastity belt."

"Ok, I'll come, but I don't think Neiman Marcus sells those," Christopher said with a smile.

* * *

"Who are you going with?" Francine asked Victoria as they shopped.

Victoria sent her dad a look and then answered vaguely. "I'm going with a friend."

"A boy?" Francine inquired sharply.

Victoria sighed. "Yes, a boy who is a friend. Louise and Madeline are going, too," she added. She knew her grandmother liked them.

"Oh," Francine said softly. She paused. "Are you all going together?"

Victoria glanced at her dad, who nodded.

Christopher knew they weren't going in a group, but it would be easier for them both if Francine thought it was a group thing, not a date.

"Yeah," Victoria lied with a tight smile.

"Oh, well, that will be nice," Francine said, though she didn't sound like she thought it was nice at all. "Do you want my hairdresser to do your hair?"

"Yes, please," Victoria replied.

Francine turned to Christopher as soon as Victoria went into the dressing room. "What do you know about this boy?"

Christopher hesitated for a moment, sensing danger. "I like him."

Francine looked surprised. "You've met him?"

"Yeah, they're friends," Christopher said.

"Just friends?" Francine clarified.

"Good friends," Christopher told her with a small smile.

Victoria walked out wearing a strapless black cocktail dress. "What do you think?"

"You look great," Christopher told her.

"It makes you look too old," Francine said with a frown.

"Ok," Victoria said, going back to the dressing room.

"She's sixteen," Christopher told his mother.

"She's young, but she's like…"

"Like what?" Christopher demanded.

"You know I love her, but sometimes she acts too much like Lorelai," Francine said softly.

"That's not fair," Christopher protested.

"Well, she does," Francine said softly.

* * *

"The guy's supposed to buy the tickets," Tristan said from behind Rory in line. It was Friday and they were buying tickets for the dance.

"Dean doesn't go here," Rory reminded him.

"Dean's cheap," Tristan said.

"He's not cheap," Rory defended.

"Uh huh. Have you gone out on a date with him yet?" Tristan inquired.

"None of your business," Rory muttered.

"That's a no," Tristan said with a grin.

"No, it's not a no," Rory said in an irritated tone.

"Where'd he take you, McDonald's?" Tristan said.

"He had a coupon for Taco Bell actually," Rory said dryly.

"So is your mom chaperoning the dance? Little girl needs a chaperone?" Tristan inquired.

"No," Rory said shortly.

"Wow, it's getting serious, huh?" Tristan said with a grin.

"Go away, Tristan," Rory told him.

"I can't. I'm buying the tickets. You see, I'm not cheap," Tristan said.

"Cheap? No. Slimy and weasely? Yes," Rory told him.

"Aw, are you guys fighting again?" Victoria said with a smile as she joined them.

She knew Tristan enjoyed teasing her twin and she also knew it bothered Rory. Personally, she thought Rory took it too seriously and needed to lighten up a little.

At least their verbal sparring matches were somewhat entertaining.

"Yes," Rory replied.

"Well, I just wanted to know how things were going with her and the Beave, that's all," Tristan told Victoria.

"Are you going to the dance with him?" Victoria asked, turning to Rory.

"Yes," Rory mumbled.

"Oh, you can come over and we can get ready together!" Victoria said excitedly.

"Actually Grandma's coming over to see me get ready," Rory told her, "but you can come over to our house."

"We're talking about Emily, right?" Victoria clarified, though she couldn't imagine any scenario in which Francine would go to Lorelai's house.

"As opposed to our other grandmother who hates Mom? Yes," Rory replied.

"One?" Paris said pointedly when Rory reached the front of the line.

"Two," Rory corrected, sending Paris a look.

"Make that four," Tristan told Paris, handing her enough money for four tickets.

"Oh, ok," Paris said, caught off guard.

"Two," Rory insisted, glaring at Tristan.

Paris however ignored her and took Tristan's money.

"Here," Rory said, trying to pay Tristan back.

"It's on me," Tristan told her, refusing to take her money.

"It's on your daddy," Rory corrected, annoyed.

"Rory," Victoria said with a frown.

"Hey, what kind of a gentleman would I be if I let a girl buy her own ticket?" Tristan said.

Rory raised an eyebrow. "You're a gentleman?"

"Now you can take the bagboy to a restaurant with tablecloths and silverware next time you go out," Tristan told her.

* * *

"Hey, you look pretty," Rory said when she opened the door.

Francine's hair stylist had done an up-do for Victoria a few hours earlier.

"I want to see!" Lorelai called from the couch and Victoria went over there. "Oh, pretty!"

"Where's Dad?" Rory wondered.

"Well, we're doing make-up and hair and he can't do either one of those things, at least not well, so he's at home on the couch drinking a beer," Victoria told her. "Dances aren't really his thing. He asked his mom to take me shopping for a dress."

The shopping trip hadn't been _that_ bad. Her grandmother had bought her a dress she loved, earrings and a ring to go with the dress, shoes and some new make-up.

Her dad had lied for her, telling his mom that Tristan was just a friend and they were going in a group. Francine seemed to believe them, or maybe she'd just decided to see what she wanted to see when it came to Victoria. That was just about the only thing Christopher had been good for on the shopping trip. He said Victoria looked great in every dress she tried on even though she knew she didn't.

Victoria knew her dad wouldn't be able to help them get ready for the dance and she wouldn't have wanted him to—it was a girl thing and she was excited to get ready with Rory and Lorelai.

"Oh," Rory said quietly.

It was weird for Rory that Christopher wouldn't want to be there to see them go to the dance. She knew no one would be able to keep Lorelai away.

She wanted her dad there. She wanted him to meet Dean.

"I hope Francine has better taste in dresses than my mother," Lorelai commented.

"I chose the dress," Victoria told her. "Well, actually I chose two dresses that she vetoed, but the third one got past her."

"What was wrong with the first two?" Lorelai wondered.

"Well, apparently the black dress made me look too old," Victoria began.

"How old are we talking about here? Senior discount old?" Lorelai inquired with a grin.

"I think it was more legal drinking age old. It was a little black cocktail dress," Victoria told her.

"Ok. So what was wrong with the second dress?" Lorelai asked.

"Oh, it was too slutty," Victoria said with a shrug.

"She actually said that?" Lorelai said, sounding surprised.

She knew the Haydens could be harsh, but that was harsh even for them.

"She didn't have to. The look of horror on her face said it all," Victoria said with a smile.

"Well, come on, let's see magical number three," Lorelai said.

Victoria unzipped the garment bag she was carrying and showed Lorelai her red silk halter dress.

"It's a beautiful dress. You'll look great in it," Lorelai told her.

"Well, according to Dad I looked great in every dress I tried on, including this pink sparkly dress that looked cute on the hanger but horrible on me. I mean, it was bad. I'm glad his mom bought my clothes when I was younger. I don't even want to think about what he would've dressed me in," Victoria said.

"I made Rory's baby clothes when we moved out of my parents' house," Lorelai told her.

"You did?" Victoria said, surprised.

Lorelai nodded. "Uh huh."

"Mom made my dress," Rory chimed in.

"Really?" Victoria said.

Rory ran to her room to get her dress and brought it into the living room to show Victoria. "See?"

"Wow," Victoria said, impressed. She looked at Lorelai. "I can't believe you made that."

"It's amazing," Rory said happily.

"You know, I can make your dress for the next dance if you want," Lorelai offered.

She wasn't sure that Victoria would want her to make a dress for her when Francine would buy her a designer dress, but Victoria seemed very intrigued with Rory's dress.

"That would be great," Victoria agreed quickly.

"Really?" Lorelai said, slightly surprised.

"Yeah. No one else will have the same dress if you make it," Victoria said, sounding excited.

"Ok, go change," Lorelai told them. "I want to see you in your dresses. Victoria, you can change in my room."

* * *

"That's Dean," Rory said when they heard a car horn.

It had been over an hour. Rory and Victoria were dressed and Emily had spent twenty minutes taking pictures of them.

"Hey, come here," Lorelai instructed and Rory kissed her mom. "Have an amazing time."

Rory ran to the door. "I'll chronicle the whole evening for you, I promise. Bye, Grandma."

"Where are you going?" Emily asked.

"To the dance," Rory stated.

"You do not go running out the door when a boy honks," Emily told her.

"Mom, it's fine," Lorelai told Emily.

"It certainly is not fine," Emily insisted. "This is not a drive thru. She's not fried chicken."

"No, she's filet mignon," Victoria chimed in, thoroughly entertained by Emily's reaction.

"But I told him to honk and I'd meet him out there. We agreed," Rory said.

"I don't care what you told him. If he wants to take you out, he will walk up to this door and say good evening and come inside for a moment like any civilized human being would know to do," Emily told her.

"Now, Mom, this is silly. I have met him already," Lorelai said, seeing how anxious Rory was.

"Well, I haven't," Emily said flatly.

"Yeah, but-"

"We will wait until he comes to the door," Emily said, cutting Lorelai off.

"He doesn't know he's supposed to," Rory muttered.

"He will figure it out," Emily told her.

Rory sighed and crossed her arms sulkily.

Dean honked again a moment later.

"He's not a very bright boy, is he?" Emily commented.

"Mom, please," Lorelai said.

The doorbell rang and Rory started to run to the door.

"Don't rush. A lady never rushes," Emily chided her.

Rory shot her grandmother an annoyed look, but slowed down.

"Hey," Rory greeted when she opened the door.

"Hey, uh, I thought I was supposed to honk," Dean said.

"I know. I'm sorry," Rory apologized.

"Young man, come in here please," Emily instructed.

"Hey, Dean, meet my mother, Emily Post," Lorelai said in a friendly tone.

"Emily Gilmore," Emily corrected.

"Hi," Dean said.

"Hello," Emily said, studying him.

"Great rap session. Alright, you guys are out of here. Have fun," Lorelai told them.

"Be home by eleven," Emily told Rory and Lorelai mouthed twelve from behind her mother's back.

"Bye, Mom. Bye, Grandma," Rory said as she left.

"Well, I certainly hope your boyfriend knows to come to the door," Emily said pointedly to Victoria. "What am I saying? We've known the DuGreys for years. I'm sure Tristan is a polite young man."

"He is," Victoria assured her.

"So is Dean, Mom," Lorelai defended Rory's boyfriend.

"What do you know about him?" Emily inquired.

"I know that Rory likes him and that his parole officer has high hopes for his rehabilitation," Lorelai said, earning a grin from Victoria.

"Does he drink?" Emily asked.

"Like a fish," Lorelai said, sending her mom a look.

"That's not a crazy question," Emily told her.

"It is a crazy question, Mom, because if I had knowledge of him being a drinker, he would not be with Rory now," Lorelai said.

Victoria was a little surprised by Lorelai's answer.

She knew both her parents drank and partied when they were in high school. She'd heard stories from her dad. She hadn't expected Lorelai to come across so anti-drinking. Lorelai didn't have many rules for Rory, but that was still more than Christopher had for Victoria.

Her dad didn't care if she drank as long as he knew where she was and she didn't drink and drive. For example, he knew that Madeline was having a party after the dance. They were all planning on spending the night there so they didn't have to drink and drive.

Some of the other kids, Tristan included, had lied to their parents and said they were going bowling after the dance, but Victoria had told Christopher the truth. It worked for them.


	15. The Chilton Formal Part Two

Chapter Fifteen: The Chilton Formal Part Two

"Don't worry, Emily. I'm not going to rush. I'm going to walk very slowly. Baby steps. Make him wait," Victoria told Emily when the doorbell rang.

"Yeah, Mom. Victoria knows she's not fried chicken. She's wine. She gets better with age," Lorelai chimed in, teasing Emily.

"Very funny," Emily said.

"Tristan, hi," Victoria greeted when she answered the door. "Come in."

Tristan followed her in and looked around. "So where's Rory?"

After witnessing the awkward first date with Lorelai ever-present, he thought it would be highly entertaining to watch Dean pick Rory up for the dance.

"She and Dean just left," Victoria told him.

"Oh yeah? In what? A horse and buggy?" Tristan said.

Victoria shot him a look, though she was struggling not to smile. "No, a car."

She thought Stars Hollow and the people who lived in it were just as strange and small town as Tristan did, but she knew Lorelai and Rory liked it there.

"Tristan, this is, uh, my grandmother, Emily Gilmore," Victoria introduced him as they walked into the living room. "Emily, this is Tristan."

"Hello!" Emily greeted Tristan much more enthusiastically than she had greeted Dean.

"It's nice to meet you." Tristan extended his hand to shake Emily's.

"Oh, it's so nice to meet a well-mannered young man," Emily gushed and Lorelai shot her a look, knowing it was a dig at Dean.

"It's nice to see you again, Lorelai," Tristan said politely.

Lorelai smiled halfheartedly. "Yeah-"

"I've known your grandparents for years. Richard does business with Janlen," Emily told Tristan, cutting Lorelai off.

"Ah, yes, he does," Tristan said.

"Oh, look at you two, you make a cute couple," Emily commented, pleased that at least one of her granddaughters was dating a suitable young man.

"Well, we should go," Victoria said with a smile.

"Yes, the dance. Have a wonderful time," Emily told them.

"Bye, hon! Have fun!" Lorelai called from the couch, then remembered which daughter she was talking to. "But not too much fun!"

"I like him," Emily told Lorelai, watching from the window as Tristan and Victoria got in his Porsche.

"Really? I couldn't tell," Lorelai said sarcastically.

Emily turned to face Lorelai. "You don't like him."

"I never said that," Lorelai protested.

"You don't have to say it," Emily said calmly.

"What, you're a mind reader now?" Lorelai said.

"I suppose you would prefer Victoria date a waiter at the diner you're so fond of or some other blue collar worker. Would that make you happy?" Emily said in a patronizing tone.

"This has nothing to do with his job or money, although I'm sure Tristan's never worked a day in his life," Lorelai told her.

"Oh really?" Emily raised an eyebrow. "What is it about then?"

"I just don't like him, Mom. He wasn't nice to Rory when she started Chilton," Lorelai said.

"What?" Emily said.

"And I've caught him kissing Victoria more times than I care to remember," Lorelai continued.

"Kissing? She's sixteen and they're dating, Lorelai," Emily said, seemingly unconcerned.

* * *

"Can we go yet?" Louise asked in a bored tone.

Louise, Madeline, and Victoria were sitting at a table at the dance. Tristan was getting Victoria a drink.

Madeline looked at Louise. "We haven't even eaten dinner."

"I'm bored," Louise complained.

"We could always go to your house and drink dinner," Victoria suggested.

"We have to wait for Paris," Madeline said.

"Paris doesn't drink," Victoria said.

"Wow," Madeline murmured, seeing Rory.

"What?" Louise asked.

"Rory," Madeline told her.

"Our mom made the dress," Victoria told them.

"She did? Really?" Madeline said, impressed.

"Yes, and she's going to make a dress for me next year," Victoria said with a smile.

"My mom can't make anything," Madeline said quietly.

"Who's the dish?" Louise asked curiously, looking at Dean appreciatively.

"Oh, that's her boyfriend, Dean," Victoria replied.

"He's not of the manor born. That's for sure," Louise said.

"No, he's not," Victoria said. "He's from Stars Hollow."

"He's hot," Louise observed.

"He's my sister's boyfriend," Victoria said pointedly, sending Louise a look.

"Too bad," Louise said with a sigh.

"Here," Tristan said as he handed Victoria a cup of punch and sat down next to her.

"Thanks," Victoria said, taking a sip. "You wanna dance?"

"Nope," Tristan replied.

"Yeah, me either," Victoria said. "You wanna go make out?"

"Yeah, alright, let's go," Tristan said, standing up and grabbing her hand.

"Hey, are you leaving already?" Rory said when Victoria and Tristan walked by.

"No, we're not leaving. We're just going outside for a minute," Victoria told her.

"A minute?" Tristan said with a smirk.

"Ok, maybe more than a minute," Victoria said with a smile. "Where's Dean?"

"Oh, he just went to get me some punch," Rory told her.

"We can wait until he gets back," Victoria volunteered, not wanting to leave Rory alone.

"You don't have to. Really. I'm fine," Rory told her, not wanting Tristan to say anything snotty to Dean.

* * *

"So you, uh, maybe want to go?" Dean asked Rory later on, after a few dances.

"You're bored," Rory realized. "I'm sorry. Yeah, let's go right away."

"I'm not bored," Dean assured her quickly. "I thought, you know, there's still a little time left, maybe we could get a cup of coffee somewhere, hang out a little, take a walk. You know, just us."

"That'd be nice," Rory said with a smile.

"You stay, I'll get the coats," Dean told her, then hurried over to the coat check.

"What, no tie?" Tristan said. He was leaning casually against the wall by the entrance where the coat check was.

"What do you want?" Dean asked wearily.

"You going somewhere?" Tristan inquired.

"Yeah," Dean said after a moment, "we're leaving."

"Oh, why? Little girl's got to be home?" Tristan said.

Dean glared at him. "Stop."

"What?" Tristan said.

Dean shook his head. "I'm going now. Get out of my way, Dristan."

"Oh, aren't you clever?" Tristan said sarcastically.

Rory hurried over to them, seeing that Dean looked mad. "Hey. What's going on?"

"Nothing. Just being friendly," Tristan told her.

Dean looked at him in disbelief. "Friendly? Are you serious?"

"Yeah, we're just about to build a clubhouse," Tristan said.

"Ok, well, I hate to break up the party, but we should go," Rory said, turning to face Dean.

"Unless, of course, you want to come to Madeline's party," Tristan said.

"I think we'll pass," Dean told him.

"What, got to get home for the big barn raising?" Tristan said.

"Let's go," Dean muttered.

* * *

"That was quite a dance," Dean commented.

Dean and Rory were back in Stars Hollow and they were going for a walk before he took her home.

"I'm sorry about Tristan. I don't know what his problem is," Rory said apologetically.

"He's a jerk," Dean said.

"He is," Rory agreed. "I don't know what Victoria sees in him."

"Well, don't ask me to explain," Dean told her.

"I mean, it would be nice if her boyfriend would try to get along with my boyfriend," Rory said.

Dean looked at her. "Uh, boyfriend?"

"What?" Rory said, not realizing what she'd said.

"You said boyfriend," Dean said.

"No!" Rory said quickly. "I just meant boyfriend in the broadest sense of the word, which doesn't even apply here."

"You are seriously babbling," Dean told her.

"I didn't mean that you're my boyfriend," Rory said.

"Ok," Dean said.

"I don't think you're my boyfriend," Rory told him.

"Ok," Dean said again.

"Dean?" Rory said.

"What?" Dean asked.

"Are you my boyfriend?" Rory wondered.

"In the broadest sense of the word way?" Dean inquired.

"No, in the real, hi, this is Dean, my boyfriend kind of way," Rory told him.

"Well, I am if you want me to be," Dean told her.

"I do," Rory assured him.

"Ok," Dean said.

"So it's settled," Rory stated.

"Yes, it is," Dean said.

"You're my boyfriend," Rory said, trying to process it.

"That's the consensus," Dean said.

"I'm feeling pretty good about this decision," Rory told him with a smile. She stopped walking, noticing that the door to Miss Patty's was open. "I guess Miss Patty forgot to lock up."

* * *

"Are you ready? Louise and Madeline are leaving," Victoria told Tristan.

"I was born ready," Tristan replied.

"I just want to say goodbye to Rory," Victoria said, looking for her sister.

"She already left," Tristan informed her.

"Oh, ok," Victoria said as Tristan put his arm around her and guided her out to the car.

"That was boring," Tristan said.

"I know. No one spiked the punch," Victoria said jokingly.

"The only reason to go to these things is the after party," Tristan said.

"I agree," Victoria told him. "So where do your parents think you're going to be tonight?"

"Well, my dad thinks I'm staying at my mom's house and my mom thinks I'm staying at my dad's house. It's one of the only good things about having divorced parents who aren't speaking to each other, " Tristan answered. "What about your dad?"

"A party at Madeline's house," Victoria said with a smile.

"Ah, and your mom?" Tristan inquired curiously.

"Oh, she doesn't need to know," Victoria told him.

* * *

"Christopher?" Lorelai said in a slightly shaky voice when he answered the phone.

It was 5:30 in the morning and Rory wasn't home.

"Christopher? Why did you call Christopher?" Emily demanded. "I told you to call the police! Rory is missing!"

"Rory's missing?" Christopher said worriedly, hearing Emily in the background.

Lorelai sighed. "Yeah."

"And you called your mom before me?" Christopher said, sounding hurt.

"I didn't call her, Chris. I had a back spasm and she stayed here last night," Lorelai told him. "Is Victoria there? Maybe she knows where Rory is."

"She's not here," Christopher told her.

"What?" Lorelai yelled. "I don't believe this. They're both missing."

"Victoria's missing, too?" Emily said with a frown, hearing Lorelai's end of the conversation.

"Relax, Lor. Victoria's not missing. She went to a party at Madeline's and spent the night there," Christopher told Lorelai.

Lorelai took a deep breath. Victoria had gone to the dance with Tristan…

"You know she's with-" Lorelai began, but stopped talking when she saw her mother out of the corner of her eye.

She definitely planned on saying something to Christopher, but not while her mother was standing right there listening to every word she said.

It was bad enough that Emily knew Rory hadn't come home last night without adding Victoria's whereabouts in.

"With who? What are you trying to say?" Christopher demanded.

"Nothing. Never mind," Lorelai said quietly.

"My daughter doesn't lie to me," Christopher said defensively.

"Ok," Lorelai said unconvincingly.

Christopher sighed. "I'll call Victoria. Rory might have gone to the party."

"_I'll_ call Victoria," Lorelai told him, though she knew Rory wouldn't be at a Chilton party. Still, maybe Victoria would know where Rory was going after the dance.

"Fine," Christopher said after a moment. "Will you call me when Rory gets home?"

"Yes, of course," Lorelai said.

She would never have let Victoria stay out all night, but it wasn't up to her.

However she felt about Victoria being out with Tristan all night, Christopher was still Rory's father and Lorelai could tell he was worried about her.

Christopher wasn't a perfect parent, but he loved his kids.

Lorelai hung up with Christopher and immediately called Victoria. It rang for a long time before Victoria picked up.

"Hello?" Victoria mumbled groggily when she answered the phone.

"Good morning, sunshine," Lorelai said.

"Lorelai?" Victoria said.

"Yes," Lorelai told her. "Where are you?"

"Uh…"

"Madeline's house?" Lorelai said after a moment of silence.

"Uh, yeah," Victoria admitted.

She _was_ at Madeline's house. Just because she was at Madeline's didn't mean she wasn't with Tristan though, because she was.

A bunch of the girls and guys had spent the night so they didn't have to drink and drive.

Victoria had shared a room with Tristan. He was currently sleeping next to her.

"Right," Lorelai said, not sure if she believed her. "Listen, is Rory with you?"

"Rory?" Victoria said.

"Yes, Rory, your twin," Lorelai said impatiently. "Brown hair, blue eyes-"

"Rory's not here," Victoria told her.

"Well, when's the last time you saw her?" Lorelai asked.

"Hours ago. At the dance. She didn't go home?" Victoria said worriedly.

"No, she didn't," Lorelai said flatly. "And apparently neither did you."

"Dad knew I was spending the night at Madeline's," Victoria defended.

"Oh, I know," Lorelai said.

"Well, then why are you mad?" Victoria asked.

If she'd had any doubts, she now knew Lorelai wouldn't have been okay with her partying.

Still, she didn't really think it was fair for Lorelai to be mad at her for this. She didn't break any rules. She wasn't the one who was missing. That was Rory. She knew that was probably part of Lorelai's problem. Lorelai was worried about Rory and probably a little angry, too, but Rory wasn't there and Victoria was.

"I do not want to talk about this right now," Lorelai told her. "I need to find Rory."

"Ok, bye," Victoria said, making a face even though she knew Lorelai couldn't see her.

"Where's Victoria? Is she alright?" Emily asked anxiously when Lorelai hung up the phone.

"Yes, Mom, she's fine," Lorelai said with a sigh. "She spent the night at a friend's house."

"Well, good. Now is there anyone else you would like to call before you call the police?" Emily said sarcastically.

"No," Lorelai muttered.

But before Lorelai could call the police, Miss Patty called her.

"She's ok," Lorelai told her mom, hanging up the phone.

"Where is she? What happened?" Emily asked.

"She and Dean were at Miss Patty's," Lorelai said, trying to process it.

She couldn't believe this was happening. This was Rory, her angel child. Rory didn't stay out all night.

That was something Lorelai and Christopher had done and something she wouldn't put past the kid that acted like them, but not Rory, never Rory.

"What is that? A motel?" Emily said with a frown.

"Um, it's a dance studio. That was Patty. She said that she found them asleep and woke them up and Rory's on her way home," Lorelai said, wondering what they were doing in Miss Patty's all night.

"In what state were they found in?" Emily said quietly.

"She didn't say, ok?" Lorelai said, knowing what Emily was implying. "Let's just try to be calm until we know what happened."

"What do you mean until we know what happened? We know what happened," Emily said, upset.

"No, we don't," Lorelai said.

She had no idea what happened and she hated not knowing.

"They were out all night," Emily pointed out.

"I'm gonna make some coffee," Lorelai said, walking away from her mom.

She didn't need to hear this right now. She just needed to see her kid and know that Rory was ok. And after she made sure Rory was ok, she might kill her daughter for scaring her like this.

Emily followed her. "Lorelai Gilmore, I've watched you do a lot of stupid things in your life and I have held my tongue."

Lorelai laughed bitterly. "You've what?"

"But I will not stand by and let you allow that girl to ruin her life," Emily told her.

Lorelai shot her mom a look. "Mom, back off."

"She spent the night out with that boy, the one you let her run off to that dance with," Emily said, blaming Lorelai for this.

Lorelai slammed the coffee pot down. "Mom, so help me God, I will not get into this with you."

"She's doing the same thing you did," Emily told her.

"No, she's not," Lorelai argued.

"She's going to get pregnant," Emily warned her.

"No, she's not," Lorelai insisted.

"She's going to ruin everything just like you did," Emily told her.

"No, she's not! No, she's not! No, she's not!" Lorelai yelled. "Rory is a good kid, Mom! She's not me."

Rory was a good kid. Lorelai had never really had to worry about her before. This was so completely out of character for her.

"What kind of mother are you to allow this to happen to her?" Emily said critically.

"Oh, I don't know, Mom. What kind of mother were you?" Lorelai countered.

"You're going to lose her. You're going to lose her just like I lost you," Emily said warningly.

"I am not going to lose her. Do you hear me? Even if I hadn't gotten pregnant, you still would've lost me. I had nothing in that house. I had no life. I had no air. You strangled me. I do not strangle Rory," Lorelai told her.

"Oh, you're so perfect and I was so horrible. I put you in good schools, I gave you the best of everything, I made sure you had the finest opportunities and I am so tired of hearing about how you were suffocated and I was so controlling. Well, if I was so controlling, why couldn't I control you running around getting pregnant and throwing your life away?" Emily defended.

"Get out!" Lorelai yelled.

"What?" Emily said, stunned.

"You will not come into my house and tell me I threw my life away. Look around, Mom. This is a life. It has a little color in it so it may look a little unfamiliar to you, but it's a life. And if I hadn't gotten pregnant, I wouldn't have Rory or Victoria," Lorelai told her.

"You know that's not what I meant," Emily said softly.

"Maybe I was some horrible, uncontrollable child like you say, but Rory isn't. She's smart and careful and I trust her and she's gonna be fine, and if you can't accept that or believe it then I don't want you in this house," Lorelai told her.

Emily left then, slamming the door behind her and Rory crept into the kitchen from where she'd been listening to her mother and her grandma fight. "Mom, thank you for saying all those-"

"What were you thinking? Staying out all night! Are you insane?" Lorelai said angrily, cutting her off.

"I'm sorry. It was an accident," Rory said honestly.

"You're talking to the queen of staying out all night. I invented the concept. This is no accident. You can't do this. Period," Lorelai told her.

"Nothing happened!" Rory told her.

"Do you have any idea what it's like to wake up with my mother here and find out that you never came home?" Lorelai said.

"So all this is about Grandma being here," Rory said with a frown, knowing her mom wouldn't be _this_ mad if her grandma hadn't been there.

Lorelai shot Rory a look. "No, it's about the feeling of complete terror when your kid isn't in her bed in the morning."

"I'm sorry," Rory apologized, knowing how worried her mom had been.

"And then it's about a whole different kind of terror when you find out that she spent the night with some guy," Lorelai told her in a biting tone.

"I didn't spend the night with him. We fell asleep," Rory corrected.

"You are going on the pill," Lorelai told her.

"What?" Rory said, unable to believe what she was hearing.

"You're not getting pregnant," Lorelai told her.

"I'm not sleeping with Dean," Rory said honestly, wanting her mom to listen to her.

"Damn it!" Lorelai said, swearing loudly. It was obvious that she wasn't listening to Rory.

"What happened to all that stuff you said to Grandma? What happened to trusting me? Where did all that go?" Rory wondered.

"I think it's back on Patty's yoga mats," Lorelai said.

"This is crap! You know I didn't do anything! You know this is an accident! You're just mad because I screwed up and I did it in front of Grandma and she nailed you for it! Well, I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I screwed up and I'm sorry that you got yelled at, but I didn't do anything and you know it!" Rory yelled, going into her room and slamming the door.

Lorelai sat down at the kitchen table crying. She knew deep down that Rory hadn't done anything with Dean, but she was just so scared and angry. Everything had built up and she exploded.

Now, she and Rory were fighting. She hated fighting with Rory, but not as much as she hated knowing that her kid had been out all night with some guy.

And then there was Victoria…

Lorelai was upset that Victoria had stayed out all night, too. She knew that if either of her kids _had_ done anything, it probably would have been Victoria.

It was different with Victoria though. Not because Lorelai loved Victoria any less, because she didn't, but because Victoria lived with Christopher.

It seemed like Christopher just let Victoria do whatever she wanted.

Lorelai rarely played the mom card with Rory, but when she needed to, she did.

Her mom card was flimsier with Victoria. She couldn't make rules for Victoria or enforce curfew or anything. What could she do really? She could talk and hope Victoria listened.


	16. It's Too Late

Chapter Sixteen: It's Too Late

"Is Rory ok?" Christopher asked, concerned.

"She stayed out all night with some guy so she's great. Me on the other hand? Not so great. You however seem oddly ok with Victoria staying out all night," Lorelai said pointedly.

She'd gone over to Christopher's apartment to talk to him and Victoria.

"Hey, at least I knew where Victoria was," Christopher said defensively.

"You didn't know where she was," Lorelai told him, sending him a look. "She wasn't with Madeline. She was with Tristan."

"She was with Tristan. And a hundred other kids. At Madeline's house," Christopher told her.

Lorelai stared at him in disbelief. "And you're, what, just ok with that?"

"She's a teenager. Teenagers go to parties," Christopher said.

"Rory doesn't," Lorelai pointed out.

"Victoria and Rory are different," Christopher told her.

"Yeah, I know," Lorelai said slowly. "Where is she?"

"She's in her room, sleeping," Christopher replied.

"Well, yeah, she had a late night last night," Lorelai said dryly.

"And a wake up call at 5:30 am," Christopher pointed out.

"I want to talk to her," Lorelai said, walking past him.

"No, you don't," Christopher told her warningly, stopping her. "Look, I don't know what you said to her, but she's mad at you."

"Of course she is. She's clearly used to doing whatever she wants," Lorelai said.

"No, she's not," Christopher argued.

"Well, she doesn't have any rules. She doesn't have a curfew," Lorelai pointed out.

"So? Our parents had rules. That doesn't mean we followed them," Christopher said.

"I don't necessarily want her to be like us," Lorelai said quietly.

"It's too late for that," Christopher told her with a fond smile.

It didn't bother him that Victoria was like him and Lorelai…well, more Lorelai than him.

He loved Lorelai. He always had. She was smart and fun and strong.

He saw that in Victoria.

And Lorelai had turned out ok. So Victoria would be fine.

"It's not too late. Now, if you don't mind, I want to talk to my daughter," Lorelai said, heading back to Victoria's room.

* * *

"Victoria, wake up," Lorelai said, sitting down on Victoria's bed.

Victoria looked at Lorelai, then looked at the clock on her nightstand. It was the second time that day that Lorelai had woken her up before noon. Now Victoria was mad and annoyed.

"What?" Victoria said in an irritated tone.

"Let's talk," Lorelai said, nudging Victoria.

"Oh, so now you want to talk to me?" Victoria said bitterly.

The last time they talked it hadn't ended well.

She knew Lorelai was mad at her, but she didn't know why. Not really.

Lorelai clearly didn't approve of her partying, but still…

Lorelai didn't approve of Tristan either and Lorelai wasn't mad at her for dating him.

Victoria knew Lorelai was upset when they talked earlier, but that didn't mean she wasn't a little hurt by the way Lorelai had spoken to her. Lorelai's tone had been flat as ice.

Lorelai looked at Victoria. "Victoria, come on."

"Ok, fine," Victoria said with a sigh, sitting up.

She just wanted Lorelai to leave her alone so she could go back to sleep, and apparently in order for that to happen, she would have to talk to Lorelai.

"So you stayed at Madeline's house last night," Lorelai began.

"You know I did," Victoria said.

"And Tristan was also there," Lorelai stated.

"Yes, he was," Victoria confirmed, not seeing the point in lying.

Her dad knew that everyone, boys included, had stayed at Madeline's. He just didn't know that Tristan had stayed in the same room as Victoria.

"What were the sleeping arrangements?" Lorelai asked.

"I didn't have sex with Tristan last night," Victoria told her honestly.

Lorelai looked surprised by Victoria's bluntness.

"What? That's what you really wanted to know, right?" Victoria said.

"Wait, last night?" Lorelai narrowed her eyes, processing what Victoria had said a moment before. "Does that mean you have…?"

There was disapproval written all over Lorelai's face.

Victoria winced and cursed herself for bad choice of words. She blamed lack of sleep and the hangover she'd been trying in vain to sleep off. She was not at her best.

She thought that Lorelai was being a little hypocritical. After all, Lorelai had gotten pregnant when she was sixteen.

"You don't get to look at me like I'm slutty. You got pregnant when you were sixteen," Victoria said.

Lorelai took a deep breath. "Yes, I got pregnant when I was sixteen. I don't want that for you."

Victoria rolled her eyes. "What, you want me to wait until I get married? Sorry, but it's a little too late for that. Hey, maybe Rory will be a virgin bride and have a white wedding."

"And you'll have a shotgun wedding when you're sixteen and still in high school?" Lorelai said pointedly.

"I'm on the pill," Victoria told her.

"You're on the pill," Lorelai said softly.

"What? I thought you'd be happy," Victoria said, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"My sixteen year old kid is having sex with Tristan," Lorelai said slowly, making a face. "I'm sorry, what part of that is supposed to make me happy?"

"I thought you wanted Rory to go on the pill," Victoria said pointedly.

"Ok, so obviously you talked to Rory," Lorelai said, realizing that Rory must have talked to Victoria sometime that morning since their fight.

"She called right after you," Victoria told her. "You don't sleep in on weekends in your house, do you?"

"Not today," Lorelai said. "No, today I woke up at 5:30 in the morning to find out my kid stayed out all night, and then I found out that not only did my other kid stay out all night, but she's also sleeping with Tristan."

"I'm so sorry Rory and I are so terrible," Victoria said sarcastically. "Maybe you can have another kid, raise her right."

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "I'm not having another kid."

"No? Why? I hope it's not something I did," Victoria said.

"You know, I thought you were me at sixteen, but I was wrong," Lorelai mused.

"Yes, you were," Victoria said.

She wasn't Lorelai. She wasn't going to get pregnant.

"No. I was never this immature," Lorelai told her.

* * *

"You look great," Victoria said sarcastically when she saw Rory at school on Monday.

"Thanks," Rory said equally sarcastically.

"Well, do you need coffee?" Victoria said.

"Yes," Rory said, looking at her sister. "Do you have coffee?"

"No, but I have a car and there's a coffee shop not too far from here," Victoria said.

"Class is going to start any minute now," Rory reminded her.

Victoria shrugged. "We could take a mental health day."

"We have to go to class," Rory told her.

"Ok, fine," Victoria said, a little disappointed. "You know, I don't know why Lorelai was worried about you. You're a very good little girl."

"It didn't help that Grandma was there," Rory told her. "It sucks. Things were good. School was good. Dean was good. Now Mom and I are barely speaking, Mom and you are barely speaking, Mom and Grandma are barely speaking. Dean's new name is Narcolepsy boy."

"She's not speaking to you?" Victoria said, surprised. "But you live with her."

"It's all very Miracle Worker at the house," Rory said.

"So, what, you eat dinner together and don't say two words to each other?" Victoria wondered.

"Pretty much," Rory confirmed.

"Wow, that's cold. You know, you could come stay with us," Victoria said.

"I appreciate the offer, but that would just make everything worse," Rory said, wanting things to go back to normal.

"Well, the offer stands. I know Dad would love to have you," Victoria told her.

Rory bit her bottom lip. "He's not mad? I mean, didn't Mom tell him?"

"He's not mad," Victoria assured her. "Not at you, anyway."

"He's mad at you?" Rory said with a frown.

"Guess again," Victoria told her.

"He's mad at Mom?" Rory said warily.

Victoria nodded. "She came all the way over to the apartment to tell him—and me—how horrible I am."

"She actually said that?" Rory said, surprised.

"She said a lot of things, but that was the gist of it," Victoria said.

"She didn't mean it," Rory told her.

"Then she shouldn't have said it," Victoria said.


	17. Fake Christmas Party

Chapter Seventeen: Fake Christmas Party

"Wow," Christopher told Victoria when she walked into his room wearing a black lace dress. "You look nice."

"Thanks. Not that tie," Victoria said, taking the tie he was holding and putting it back in his closet.

"No?" Christopher said.

"No. Here." Victoria handed him another tie.

"Thanks," Christopher muttered as he put the tie on and shrugged his jacket on. "You ready?"

"Not really, no," Victoria told him.

They were invited to Emily and Richard's holiday party and Victoria assumed Lorelai would be there. It was her parents' house, after all. And she hadn't talked to Lorelai since the day after the dance…

She didn't know what to expect. She'd never really fought with her dad…not the knockdown, drag-out kind of fight she'd had with Lorelai.

"What's wrong?" Christopher asked.

"Lorelai," Victoria said with a sigh.

Christopher sighed and nodded. "Yeah."

Victoria looked at her dad. He looked about as happy about this as she was. "You ready?"

"No," Christopher said with a groan. "What time is Tristan supposed to get here?"

"He's here," Victoria told him.

"I guess we should go," Christopher said unenthusiastically. "I can't believe you're going with your boyfriend instead of your dad. Traitor."

"Hey, as bad as Lorelai thinks I am, she thinks Tristan's twice as bad," Victoria pointed out. "I need to be there to prevent bloodshed."

"You've got a point there," Christopher acknowledged as they headed out.

"Hi, Christopher," Tristan said from the couch, where he'd been waiting.

"Hi, Tristan," Christopher said, distracted by his cell phone ringing. "Uh, I gotta take this. It's work. You two go ahead."

"Without you?" Victoria said in disbelief.

"I thought you were going with Tristan," Christopher said and Victoria shot him a look. "Go ahead. I'll be there soon."

* * *

"Don't you have any kind of holiday special? Something festive?" Lorelai asked.

It was the night of her parents' Christmas party and instead of being at the party with Rory, she was at Luke's.

She'd been uninvited to the Christmas party. She'd been uninvited and Christopher, Victoria and Tristan had all been invited. She couldn't believe it. Tristan was there and she wasn't.

Normally Lorelai would have been glad to get out of seeing her parents on Friday night, but this was different. It was Christmas. She couldn't help but feel left out.

Luke looked at her. "I just got some Grey Poupon. That's French."

"Tonight's my parents' big Christmas celebration. There's good food, these amazing apple tarts, big tree. It's the only holiday I actually enjoy going over there for and this year I'm uninvited," Lorelai told him.

"Why the hell would anyone celebrate Christmas two weeks early?" Luke said.

"Did you even hear the part about me being uninvited?" Lorelai inquired.

"To your parents' fake Christmas party?" Luke said.

"Yes," Lorelai told him.

"I did hear that," Luke told her.

"Do you care?" Lorelai wondered, wanting someone to listen to her vent.

"Obviously you do," Luke said pointedly.

"Yes, I do and I don't know why. Actually I do know why. I'm uninvited and Christopher's invited," Lorelai realized.

Luke glanced at her as he wiped the counter. "Christopher as in Rory's father? That Christopher?"

"Yes," Lorelai confirmed. "And that's not all."

"There's more?" Luke said.

"Tristan's invited," Lorelai said unhappily. "I mean, my mother's only met him one time and he's invited, but her own daughter isn't."

"Who the hell is Tristan?" Luke said, trying to keep up.

"Victoria's boyfriend," Lorelai said quietly.

"You don't like him?" Luke inquired.

"No, I don't like him," Lorelai said, making a face.

"Well, if he's anything like the bagboy, I don't blame you," Luke told her.

Lorelai sighed. "Yeah, well… I'll have a burger."

"Coming right up," Luke told her.

* * *

"Victoria, Tristan, I'm so glad you came," Emily greeted when she opened the door. "Victoria, where's your father?"

"He'll be here soon," Victoria told her.

"Well, come in," Emily instructed. "Can I take your coats?"

Tristan helped Victoria with her coat and handed it to Emily, then took his own coat off.

"Such a gentleman," Emily observed. "Victoria, isn't he a gentleman?"

"He's all right." Victoria caught Tristan's eye and smiled.

"All right? Nonsense. He's perfect for you," Emily told her. "What can I get you two to drink?"

"I think your mom's parents like me more than your mom likes me," Tristan mused when Emily went to get their drinks.

"Rory likes you more than Lorelai likes you in spite of the fact that you call her Mary," Victoria told him. "My other grandparents would probably like you more than Lorelai likes you right now."

"The other grandparents? The ones you don't want me to meet? Your mom must really hate me," Tristan said.

Emily returned with their drinks. "A club soda for you, Tristan, and a Diet Coke for you, Victoria."

"Thank you, Emily," Tristan said politely.

"Come on, Rory's in the dining room," Emily told them. "Rory, your sister's here."

"Where's Lorelai?" Victoria asked Rory warily, looking around.

"She's not here," Rory told her.

"She's not?" Victoria said, not believing her luck.

"No. Grandma told her not to come," Rory said.

"Oh," Victoria said, surprised.

Part of her was relieved, but another part of her was disappointed. As hurt and angry as she was, Victoria missed Lorelai.

It was funny, she hadn't had Lorelai in her life for thirteen years and now she missed Lorelai after five days.

"Where's Dad?" Rory wondered.

"He should be here by now," Victoria said, realizing they'd been there for awhile and her dad still wasn't there. "I should call him."

Victoria stepped away to call her dad and find out where he was.

Someone answered, however it wasn't her dad.

"Hello?" A male voice that Victoria didn't recognize said.

Victoria frowned in confusion. "Who is this?"

"This is Officer Ryan," the male voice told her. "Who is this?"

"Officer?" Victoria repeated with a frown, a sinking feeling in her stomach. "Where's my dad? Why do you have his phone?"

"You're Christopher Hayden's daughter?" Officer Ryan said.

"Yes, I'm his daughter. Where's my dad?" Victoria demanded.

From across the room, Rory and Tristan watched as the color drained from Victoria's face and she dropped the phone.

Rory ran over to her twin. "Victoria? What's wrong? What happened?"

"Uh, I need to go to the hospital. Dad's in the hospital," Victoria said, still trying to process it.

She was just with her dad, helping him with his tie and talking and now…now he was in the hospital.

"What?" Rory said, horrified.

"I need to go," Victoria said. She started walking toward the door and then she remembered she didn't have her car. "Tristan, can you drive me to the hospital? Or you can drive me home and I can get my car."

"I'll drive you," Tristan said quickly.

"Wait, you can't just leave," Rory protested. "You have to tell Grandma and Grandpa."

"Rory, Dad's in the hospital. I don't know if he's ok. I don't know anything. The only thing that stupid cop would tell me was that I need to get to the hospital so that's what I'm going to do. I don't have time to chit chat with Emily and Richard," Victoria told her, upset.

"Come on," Tristan said quietly, helping Victoria into her coat.

* * *

Luke set a plate down on the counter in front of Lorelai.

"What did you do?" Lorelai said with a smile.

"You wanted something festive," Luke mumbled.

"You made me a Santa burger," Lorelai said.

"It's not a big deal," Luke told her.

"He has a hat and everything," Lorelai said, sounding impressed.

"Yeah, I just cut a piece of Wonder Bread, you know, poured a little ketchup, piped on a little cream cheese," Luke said, trying to downplay it.

"No one has ever made me something quite this disgusting before. Thank you," Lorelai told him, touched.

"You're welcome," Luke said.

Her cell phone rang and Luke pointed at the "No Cell Phone" sign hanging behind him.

"What?" Lorelai said.

"Outside!" Luke told her.

"Are you kidding? It's like the North Pole out there," Lorelai said.

After an argument, which she lost, Lorelai was standing out in the cold checking her voicemail.

"Oh my God!" Lorelai exclaimed, bursting into the diner.

"What's going on?" Luke asked.

"Christopher's in the hospital," Lorelai told him.

"What?" Luke said.

"Yeah, I, uh, don't really know what happened. I need a cab. I need to call a cab," Lorelai said.

"I'll drive you," Luke volunteered.

"But there's food and there's people and there's a burger with a face," Lorelai pointed out.

"Ok, everybody out! We're closed. Let's go. Food's on me," Luke announced.

* * *

"Should you call your grandparents?" Tristan wondered.

"Rory probably told them," Victoria said, staring out the window from the passenger seat.

"No, I mean your other grandparents, your dad's parents," Tristan told her.

"Oh. No…I don't know why he's in the hospital. He's probably fine and if he's fine, he won't want them there," Victoria said, wanting to see how her dad was before involving her grandparents.

Tristan glanced at her. "Ok, but if he's fine, wouldn't he have called you?"

"Don't say that," Victoria pleaded. "He's ok. He has to be ok."

"You're right," Tristan said.

"I am?" Victoria said hopefully.

"Yeah. He's young. He's not sick," Tristan said.

"No, he's…" Victoria began, then stopped suddenly.

"What?" Tristan said with a glance at her.

Victoria was staring out the window in horror. Tristan followed her gaze to where the road was blocked off up ahead. There were flashing lights and flares. There was an SUV and a bike on the side of the road.

"It's a 2000 Indian," Victoria said softly.

"You like motorcycles?" Tristan said.

"No, Tristan, my dad has a 2000 Indian," Victoria told him.

Tristan accelerated, going through a yellow light. "I'm breaking several laws to get you there."

"Thank you," Victoria said.

"No thanks necessary," Tristan told her.

* * *

"We're being passed by senior citizens," Lorelai complained from the passenger seat of Luke's truck.

"I'm going as fast as I can," Luke told her.

"Bye, Grandma, bye," Lorelai said.

"There's ice on the road. Those people aren't being safe," Luke said patiently.

"Well, maybe they're not being safe, but at least they're getting somewhere," Lorelai said pointedly.

After a moment of silence, Luke glanced over and saw Lorelai on her phone. He knew she was listening to the message again.

"You checked it five times already, I've listened to it twice, it's not changing," Luke said.

"Dad's in the hospital, please come," Lorelai repeated the message Rory had left word for word. "No details, no info. Who taught her to leave a message like that?"

"I'm sure she was in a hurry," Luke told her.

"A person needs details. Why is Christopher in the hospital? How bad is it? What are the circumstances involving him being in the hospital? Those are simple questions," Lorelai said.

"We'll be there very soon and you'll know everything," Luke told her.

"What if he's dead?" Lorelai said.

"He's not dead," Luke assured her.

"How do you know?" Lorelai challenged.

"I know," Luke said.

"Oh, you're psychic now? You're suddenly getting visions while you're driving twenty miles and hour in the oldest truck known to man?" Lorelai winced. "I'm sorry. You're killing yourself to get me there and I'm yelling at you. I don't mean it."

"I know," Luke said with a glance at her.

"I just keep thinking about the last thing I said to him," Lorelai said, feeling bad about what she'd said.

"What did you say?" Luke asked after a moment.

"I told him he was a horrible parent," Lorelai said with a sigh. "What if that's the last thing I ever say to him?"

"It won't be," Luke assured her.

"He's not a horrible parent," Lorelai told him.

"I'll take your word for it," Luke said, though he didn't think Christopher would be in the running for father of the year.

All Luke knew was that Christopher hadn't been there for Rory for the last thirteen years.

"Victoria and Rory love him," Lorelai said.


	18. Motorcycle Accident

Chapter Eighteen: Motorcycle Accident

"Victoria Gilmore!" Emily said, seeing Victoria.

Emily felt like she was talking to a teenaged Lorelai. This was something Lorelai would do…_had_ done. It was just like Lorelai going to the hospital by herself when she was in labor.

Did Victoria tell them that Christopher was in the hospital and they needed to go to the hospital? No, of course not. Instead, Lorelai's daughter left without telling anyone.

Emily hardly thought a couple of teenagers were equipped to handle this on their own. She hurried over to Victoria with Richard and Rory right behind her.

"Hayden," Victoria corrected, looking up. Her eyes were red-rimmed and puffy. She'd been crying.

"You could have told us that your father was in the hospital," Emily chided gently, losing a little bit of steam when she saw how upset Victoria looked.

Richard cleared his throat and looked away, a little uncomfortable with the tears.

"Rory told you," Victoria pointed out.

"You should have told us," Emily told her.

"Sorry," Victoria apologized halfheartedly.

"Never mind that. What happened?" Emily asked.

"Yeah, what happened?" Rory echoed.

"The roads were icy. An SUV lost control and hit his motorcycle," Victoria told them.

"How is he?" Emily asked.

"I don't know. They, um, they won't tell me anything because I'm not eighteen," Victoria said.

"Well, why are you crying then?" Emily wondered.

She'd just assumed Christopher wasn't doing well and that's why Victoria was crying.

"He's unconscious and there was so much blood," Victoria said, staring straight ahead.

"You've seen him?" Emily realized.

Victoria nodded. "Yeah, he's…he's in the ICU."

"I want to see him," Emily told her.

"I tried to go back there with her. It's family only," Tristan spoke up from his seat next to Victoria.

"We'll see about that," Emily said, going over to the nurse's station.

"So he's in the ICU?" Rory said slowly, trying to process it. "That's not good. Did they tell you anything at all?"

"Nothing," Victoria said flatly, shaking her head.

"You said he was bleeding." Rory looked over at Victoria. "Does he need blood? I can donate blood."

"I don't know," Victoria said softly.

"Did it look like he had any broken bones?" Rory asked.

"Rory, I don't know!" Victoria told her twin in an irritated tone.

"I'm sorry," Rory said quietly. "I just- I want to know how he is."

* * *

"I would like to see Christopher Hayden," Emily said, waiting for one of the nurses at the nurses' station to help her.

The nurse who had given Victoria directions to Christopher's room looked up. "Mrs. Hayden?"

"It's Gilmore, Emily Gilmore," Emily corrected.

"Are you family?" The nurse asked.

"No, I'm not," Emily told her, seeing where this was going.

"I'm sorry, I thought you were his mother. You can't see him. He's in the ICU. It's immediate family only," the nurse said, sounding genuinely sorry.

"Oh, I see. You won't let me see him, yet you allow my sixteen year old granddaughter to see him?" Emily said.

"She is immediate family. She's his daughter," the nurse said with a sympathetic glance at Victoria.

"She's sixteen! She's a child!" Emily told her.

"I know," the nurse said with a sigh. "I told her that she should call her grandparents."

"I'm her grandmother. Aren't you listening?" Emily said, her frustration rising.

"Her other grandparents. Christopher's parents," the nurse clarified.

* * *

"Victoria, did you call the Haydens?" Emily said when she returned to the waiting room.

"Yeah," Victoria answered quietly.

"Well, are they coming? The nurse wouldn't tell me a damn thing," Emily said.

"They're on the way," Victoria told Emily, then looked at Tristan. "You should go before they get here." She lowered her voice so Emily and Richard couldn't hear.

"Should I?" Tristan said, not moving.

"Yes," Victoria said, giving him a pointed look. "They don't know about us."

This was not the time or the place for her grandparents to find out about Tristan. Victoria didn't know if there would ever be a good time, but this definitely wasn't it.

"Do you want to break the news to them or should I?" Tristan asked her.

Victoria shot him a look. "Tristan, I'm serious."

"I know you are," Tristan said with a sigh. "So am I."

"Tristan, come on," Victoria said, then she saw Straub and Francine. "Well, it's too late now."

Tristan followed her gaze. "Is that them?"

"Yes," Victoria muttered.

"Victoria!" Francine exclaimed, spotting Victoria.

"Grandmother, Grandfather." Victoria rose from her chair, whereas Rory shrank back in her chair.

"Hello, Francine, Straub," Emily greeted stiffly.

"Hello," Francine said, struggling to smile politely.

"Who are you?" Straub demanded, looking at the boy who was holding his granddaughter's hand.

"Tristan DuGrey, sir," Tristan stood up and introduced himself.

"Tristan? Isn't this the boy you went to the formal with?" Francine asked Victoria, placing the name.

Straub looked over at Francine. "You said she went to the dance with a friend," he said in an accusatory tone.

Victoria opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, Emily jumped in.

"A friend? No, Straub, Victoria and Tristan have been dating for awhile now," Emily said smugly, pleased she knew something Straub and Francine didn't.

"Well…isn't that nice?" Francine said, not sounding like she thought it was nice at all.

"Is that so?" Straub said, giving Victoria a pointed look.

"Yes," Victoria admitted with a sigh.

"So you lied to your grandmother. Tell me, did your dad know about this?" Straub asked, looking right at Victoria.

Victoria looked away, not knowing what to say. She didn't want to say anything to make them mad at her dad.

Unfortunately, Straub thought this made her look guilty.

"Unbelievable," Straub muttered.

"It's hardly shocking that they're dating. They're sixteen," Emily told him.

She certainly hadn't expected Straub and Francine to react like this.

_It wasn't as though Victoria was dating the bagboy from the market in Stars Hollow_, Emily thought.

_That_ Emily would understand, but Tristan was perfectly suited for Victoria.

"She's too young," Francine murmured.

Everyone in the room knew what Francine was thinking…Victoria was too young to get pregnant. Francine didn't have to say it.

Victoria looked at Francine in disbelief. "I'm not pregnant! We're just dating."

"Enough, Victoria," Straub told her, then looked at Tristan with disdain. "Young man, you should go now."

"Tristan," Tristan said, "And I don't have anywhere I need to be."

"Well, _we're_ going to see Christopher," Straub announced, stalking off. "Come on, Victoria," he demanded impatiently.

Victoria had just been standing there, shell-shocked. "Sorry," Victoria mouthed, looking at Tristan over her shoulder and then going with her grandparents.

"Rory, do you want to go see your father?" Emily asked quickly, before the Haydens disappeared.

"Uh, no, Grandma, that's ok," Rory said quietly.

She _did_ want to see her dad, just not with Straub and Francine.

"Alright, then we should get something to eat," Emily said.

"What? No, Grandma, I'm not really hungry," Rory told her.

"We never ate dinner. You need to eat," Emily insisted. "I'm going to go get something for you to eat. Tristan, would you like anything?"

"Please. Thanks, Emily," Tristan said politely.

"I'm sorry," Rory said to Tristan once Emily left.

She felt like she had to apologize for the way Straub and Francine had treated him.

They were her other grandparents after all, even if they didn't acknowledge her.

Tristan looked at her in surprise. "About what?"

"About my grandparents," Rory told him.

"Why? Now you have two more members for the I Hate Tristan club," Tristan said.

"I don't hate you," Rory told him.

Tristan shot her a look. "You don't like me."

"I think you can be a jerk, yes, but I don't hate you. You've been really nice tonight and they were so rude to you," Rory said, feeling bad about it.

"Don't look so shocked. I have my moments," Tristan said with a smile.

"No, I mean, you've been really nice. It's been a long night-"

Tristan glanced at his watch. "It's not even eight yet. What, is it past your bedtime?"

"I'm going to ignore that," Rory told him. "Victoria's upset and she was crying and guys don't like crying, do they? But still, you've been-"

"Really nice?" Tristan guessed with a grin. "I actually have a lot of experience with crying."

"Do you make a lot of girls cry?" Rory said dryly.

"No," Tristan told her with a pointed look. "And for the record, I have never made Victoria cry."

"That's true," Rory acknowledged, then looked at him curiously. "So where does all of your experience stem from then?"

"My mother," Tristan said flatly.

"Your mother?" Rory said with a frown.

"Yeah, uh, she and my dad are divorced," Tristan said.

"Oh. I'm sorry," Rory said quietly.

"It's ok," Tristan told her. "Really, they've been divorced for two years and she's in the middle of a divorce with her second husband, hence the crying."

"Wow," Rory commented.

* * *

"How is he?" Rory asked, a sinking feeling in her stomach when she saw Victoria. Her sister looked really upset.

"Not good. He's still unconscious and he has a concussion. They won't know if there's any brain damage until he wakes up," Victoria said, starting to cry again.

"Well, when will that be?" Emily asked with a frown.

Victoria shrugged. "They don't know. They said he'll be in pain whenever he does wake up. He has a fractured wrist, two broken ribs, and a punctured lung. They're taking him into surgery now."

"Oh my God," Rory said, unable to believe this was happening.

"Poor Francine! Where are Straub and Francine?" Emily said, looking around when she realized they weren't with Victoria.

"They're filling out all the forms," Victoria replied.

"Here, sit down," Tristan told her.

Victoria sat down in the chair next to Tristan and he put his arm around her. They were sitting like that when Straub and Francine came back into the waiting room a little while later.

"You're still here," Straub muttered, seeing Tristan with Victoria. "Victoria, stop crying.

"Let's go for a walk," Tristan said to Victoria, wanting to get her out of there.

"A walk? It's freezing out there!" Emily said with a frown.

"It's freezing in here," Tristan said, sending Straub a pointed look.

* * *

"Mom!" Rory exclaimed, standing up to hug her mom.

"What happened?" Lorelai asked.

"He got in an accident on his motorcycle," Rory told her.

"Where's Victoria? Was she on your dad's motorcycle?" Lorelai asked frantically.

She saw her parents and Christopher's parents, but no sign of Victoria. She swore her heart stopped for a second. She needed to know where her daughter was.

It's not that she wasn't worried about Christopher, because she was, but her daughters came first.

"No. She's fine," Rory assured her mom. "She and Tristan went for a walk."

"They went for a walk?" Lorelai said, giving Rory a weird look.

Victoria's dad was in the hospital and her grandparents and her sister were there. It was a weird time to go for a walk.

"Yeah, they did. They went for a walk," Rory said, looking at Straub.

She knew her sister needed to get away from Straub for awhile, but she couldn't say that when he was sitting right there.

"Uh, ok," Lorelai said, though she still thought it was weird. "How's your dad?"

"He's been unconscious this whole time. He has a broken wrist, a collapsed lung, two broken ribs, and a concussion and they won't know if he has brain damage until he wakes up. It's horrible," Rory told her.

"Where is he?" Lorelai asked.

"He's in surgery. I don't know how long he'll be in surgery. I'd like to do something," Rory said.

"Like rollerblade?" Lorelai said.

"Like get some coffee or make phone calls or do something that isn't waiting," Rory told her.

"Well, as partial as I am to the phone, I'm voting for the get coffee idea," Lorelai told her.

"Ok, good," Rory said. "I'll be right back."

"Hey, he's gonna be fine," Lorelai told her.

"I was just getting to know him," Rory said sadly.

"I know," Lorelai said.

"I don't want him to-"

"He's not," Lorelai told her, knowing what she was going to say. "Go get your coffee." She watched her daughter leave, then turned to her mom. "Mom."

"Lorelai," Emily acknowledged. "I'm surprised you came."

"Well, of course I came," Lorelai told her.

"The girls haven't eaten anything. Victoria is very upset. Tristan's just been a rock for her. Rory seems to be holding up well considering," Emily informed her.

Luke joined them. "Hey. Uh, sorry it took so long. I just found a parking spot. Jeez, you'd think a big hospital like this would have enough parking,"

"You have an escort?" Emily said, looking at Luke.

"No, it's Luke, Mom," Lorelai said dismissively.

"Which is her way of saying we weren't on a date," Luke told Emily.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that," Lorelai told him.

"Well, how am I supposed to know you weren't on a date?" Emily said. "It's Friday night and you show up here with a man."

"With Luke, Mom," Lorelai said again.

"It's not insane to assume a date was involved," Emily told her.

"You're right, ok? It's entirely possible that I was out on a date," Lorelai said, knowing her mother wouldn't drop it until she agreed.

"Just not with me," Luke said.

"I was eating at Luke's when I got the message. He gave me a ride, end of story," Lorelai said, exasperated. "So Chris is in surgery?"

"Yes, they told Straub and Francine that it could be hours," Emily replied.

"Ok. I'm going to go find Victoria and see how she's doing," Lorelai told her.

* * *

Tristan pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket as they stepped out of the hospital. "You want?"

"Smoking at the hospital," Victoria said with a small smile. She took a cigarette and he lit it for her. "It's kind of like having sex in a church."

"You know, the hospital probably has a chapel," Tristan told her.

"Ok, I was making a comparison. I wasn't propositioning you," Victoria said, though she was smiling slightly. Her smile faded. "You should go, Tristan."

"Because of your grandparents?" Tristan said.

"Yes!" Victoria told him.

"Why? They know we're dating," Tristan said calmly.

"Yes, they know and I didn't want them to know, but now they do," Victoria said with a sigh.

"Right. I can leave, but it doesn't change anything. They're still gonna know we're dating," Tristan pointed out.

"Well, they wouldn't have known if you'd just left when I asked you to," Victoria said.

"So this is my fault because I didn't want to leave you when your dad's in the hospital?" Tristan said, sounding mad.

"I didn't mean it like that. I'm glad you're here," Victoria told him.

"Really?" Tristan said.

"Yes, really," Victoria told him. "And they would've found out eventually. They would've acted like this no matter what."

"Well, maybe they wouldn't act like this if you didn't lie to them," Tristan said pointedly.

"There is no way they would ever be ok with this," Victoria said knowingly.

"People date in high school," Tristan said.

Victoria exhaled. "I know. They're insane. And you're the best boyfriend ever. Thank you. Thank you for driving me and being here and dealing with the crazy people."

"You're welcome," Tristan told her.

"But, now, I really need you to go," Victoria told him. "My grandparents are here and they're not going anywhere and they're going to be horrible as long as you're here."

"They won't be horrible if I leave?" Tristan inquired.

"No, they'll still be horrible, but it won't be as bad," Victoria told him.

"Ok, I'm going," Tristan said and then he gave her a quick kiss before heading to his car.

Victoria watched him leave with the cigarette between her lips.

"Victoria?" A voice said from behind her a moment later, prompting Victoria to drop the cigarette, putting it out with the toe of her boot.


	19. It's Not a Contest

Chapter Nineteen: It's Not a Contest

"Victoria, what are you doing?" Lorelai demanded.

Victoria turned around to face Lorelai slowly. "Lorelai."

"You're smoking? Your dad's in the hospital. You should be in there, not out here smoking!" Lorelai said, sending her daughter a disapproving look.

"I'm well aware that my dad is in the hospital," Victoria said with a hard edge to her voice. "He could die. And even if he doesn't, he could have brain damage."

"Oh, hon, that's not gonna happen," Lorelai said softly.

"Where did you get your medical degree from? Because the guy in the blue scrubs said they wouldn't know anything until he wakes up…if he wakes up. I know you think he's this bad parent, but he's not. He's a pretty good one. It's just been me and him for a couple of years now. I…I don't know if I can go back to living with my grandparents, not after living with him. I need him. He understands me. He's all I have. He's all I have," Victoria said.

Victoria had spent the first years of her life in her grandparents' house and then she'd stayed with them when her dad was in between jobs or traveling with them.

It wasn't _that_ bad, just very different. She didn't know if she could go back to living with them full-time after being with her dad.

Victoria was used to having more freedom.

It wasn't just the big things like seeing Tristan and going to parties. She could sneak out of her grandparents' house – she'd done it before, many times. But there were a hundred little things her grandparents would try to control, from what she wore all the way down to what she ate.

It didn't really bother her when she was younger, but now…well, now that she'd had more freedom, she would hate living there.

Victoria couldn't really talk about this with anyone. The person she would normally vent to was her dad and he was in a coma. No one else could fully appreciate what it was like in her grandparents' house.

"I don't think he's a bad parent," Lorelai told her. "We just do things a little differently, that's all. He loves you so much. But I love you, too. He's not all you have. Not anymore."

Victoria hugged Lorelai tightly. She may be sixteen and almost an adult, but right now she was a child who wanted comfort from her parents.

"Oh," Lorelai said, looking down at her daughter. "Ok. You're frozen. Let's go back inside." She looked around. "Where's Tristan?"

"He left," Victoria told her, stepping into the hospital.

"He left?" Lorelai said in surprise, following her.

"Yes," Victoria answered.

"Well, did you guys fight?" Lorelai wondered.

Victoria rolled her eyes. "No, he left because I asked him to."

Lorelai looked at her. "That's it? There has to be more to the story."

Victoria sighed. "Meeting the family – more specifically, my dad's parents – didn't go well."

"Hmm. Did you tell them you're sleeping with him?" Lorelai said in a bad attempt at a joke.

Victoria shot her a look. "No."

"I'm just surprised they don't like him. My mother loves him. He goes to private school, he has a trust fund. He's exactly the type of guy people like them think you should be with," Lorelai said.

"Yeah, in about ten years when I'm graduating from law school maybe," Victoria told her.

"Ten years? Try when you're in a retirement home," Lorelai said.

* * *

"Victoria, there you are. Where have you been?" Straub demanded when Lorelai and Victoria returned to the waiting room.

Victoria looked at him. "I went for a walk with Tristan. You know that."

"That was thirty minutes ago," Straub stated.

"I didn't know you were timing me," Victoria said.

"You just went for a walk? That's it?" Straub said pointedly, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes," Victoria said, sounding a little exasperated.

"Where did that boy go?" Straub wondered.

"Tristan," Francine supplied.

"Tristan's gone," Victoria told them.

"He didn't walk you back?" Emily chimed in, sounding surprised and just a little bit disapproving.

"I can't win," Victoria muttered under her breath.

"Hey, so how's Christopher?" Lorelai asked, trying to change the subject.

"Still in surgery," Straub muttered.

* * *

"Hey, look who I found," Luke announced.

He'd gone to find Rory after Lorelai left. He'd been a little uncomfortable with the Gilmores and the Haydens.

"The coffee machine was jammed, so I got us some chicken soup and some Pez," Rory told Lorelai.

"Dinner and dessert combo," Victoria said.

"That's not dinner, dear. Do you need money to get something from the cafeteria?" Francine reached for her purse absentmindedly, only offering for Victoria.

Lorelai hadn't expected it to be any different tonight than it had been at the dinner at her parents' house.

They had ignored Rory then and they were ignoring her now.

It made Lorelai hate them even more than she already hated them.

They didn't ignore Victoria and Lorelai wasn't so sure that was a good thing.

She knew Christopher needed help with Victoria, but she didn't know if Francine and Straub's "help" would help or hurt Victoria more in the long run. Well, Lorelai was there now and she didn't need any help from the Haydens.

Lorelai shot Francine a look. "Don't give her money for food. I'll do that. She's my daughter."

"I'm not hungry," Victoria said, but no one was listening to her.

"You will, will you?" Straub said, looking at Lorelai with a malicious glint of amusement in his eyes.

Victoria winced at the disdain in her grandfather's voice.

"Yes," Lorelai answered evenly, meeting Straub's gaze and holding it. She lifted her chin in defiance.

"Really?" Straub raised an eyebrow. "Are you going to pay for Chilton? Her dance classes? Her clothes? What about her car?"

Lorelai was silent.

"We'll take care of it," Richard spoke up, surprising everyone, especially Lorelai.

"Like hell you will," Straub told Richard.

Emily smiled. "We're happy to do it."

"So are we. Your daughter's the only one here who isn't," Straub said pointedly.

Richard was quiet, unable to argue with that, as much as he'd like to. He knew Lorelai would be happy to pay for Victoria's schooling if she had the money, but she didn't. She couldn't pay for Rory's school and she couldn't pay for Victoria's school.

Rory didn't know how she could have been jealous, even for a minute, that her other grandparents were in Victoria's life, but not her life. They were horrible.

"I could always go to public school. Then no one would have to pay for anything," Victoria said, getting annoyed that they were talking about her like she wasn't there.

"No one is saying you should do that," Francine told her.

"Of course not," Emily agreed.

"You're attending Chilton and then you're attending Princeton. We're more than capable of paying for your education," Straub told Victoria. "Haven't we always?" He added, more for Lorelai's benefit than Victoria's.

"Ok," Victoria said slowly, looking away. There was a hint of sarcasm in her voice, but her grandfather didn't pick up on it. "I'm going to get coffee."

"The coffee machine's jammed," Rory reminded her quietly.

"There has to be coffee somewhere in this hospital and I'm going to find it," Victoria said.

"I'll come with you," Lorelai volunteered quickly. "Rory?"

"Uh, yeah, I'll come, too," Rory said.

"Oh, ok, I guess I'll stay here," Luke muttered when they walked off, leaving him there with the Gilmores and the Haydens.

* * *

"I can't imagine what it must have been like for Dad to grow up with them as parents," Rory said softly.

"I can," Lorelai told her.

Lorelai and Christopher had grown up together, attending the same private schools and the same boring parties. Their fathers were all business. Their mothers cared more about what other people thought of their kids than knowing their kids.

Lorelai had kept Rory away from that world. Unfortunately, she hadn't been able to do that with Victoria…

Victoria snickered. "No, you can't."

She was a little bit bitter. She knew both sets of grandparents were controlling, but Emily and Richard weren't nearly as bad.

Her mom may have lived with them, but she had no idea what it was like to live with Straub and Francine.

And as for Rory…well, Rory only saw Emily and Richard on Friday nights and holidays.

"Kid, you lived with your grandparents for a couple of years. I did sixteen years in my parents' house," Lorelai said.

"It's not a contest," Rory told them.

"But if it was, I'd win," Lorelai insisted.

Victoria shook her head. "According to your scale, my dad would win, hands down."

"She's right, you know. Grandma and Grandpa aren't that bad," Rory told her, agreeing with her sister. "Straub is awful." Rory looked at Victoria curiously. "Is he always like this?"

"Lorelai brings it out in him," Victoria said in answer to Rory's question.

"It's a talent," Lorelai said.

Rory rolled her eyes. "You must be so proud."

"I am. It takes a certain-" Lorelai began and then stopped, seeing a nurse walk by with a cup of coffee. "Aha! She has coffee. Come on, let's follow her."

"We are not following that nurse," Rory told her.

"No, we're not. No need. I think I know where she got it," Victoria said.

"What? Where?" Lorelai asked.

Victoria walked over to a door that said Nurses' Lounge. "Here."

"What are you doing?" Rory asked nervously.

"Getting coffee," Victoria told her.

"We can't go in there!" Rory exclaimed.

"Sure we can. Just put one foot in front of the other. Come on, move," Lorelai told her.

"No, we can't go in there," Rory said seriously.

"Who's stopping us?" Victoria said.

"It's for nurses and we are not nurses," Rory pointed out.

Victoria shrugged. "Ok, fine, you can stay out here." Then, she opened the door and walked in like she owned the place.

"Mom!" Rory protested when Lorelai went in right behind Victoria. Rory hesitated and then went in with them.

"There are no nurses in the Nurses' Lounge," Victoria said, looking over her shoulder at Rory.

"Just hurry," Rory told her.

"What are you doing?" Lorelai asked Victoria when her daughter poured a fourth cup.

"I'm getting my grandfather coffee," Victoria answered.

"Why?" Lorelai asked incredulously.

"Because it's going to be a very long night if his mood doesn't improve," Victoria said with a sigh.

"And you think coffee is going to do that?" Lorelai said, looking at her in disbelief.

"Well, scotch would be better, but I don't think the nurses are drinking on the job," Victoria said.

"I love coffee. I'm also a big fan of scotch. But I don't think anything short of a lobotomy is gonna help," Lorelai told her.

* * *

"Here, Grandfather. I got you a coffee," Victoria said.

"Thank you, Victoria." Straub took the stryofoam cup.

They sat in silence for awhile until Christopher's surgeon finally came out. "Family of Christopher Hayden?"

"We're his parents," Straub said.

"You son was very lucky. It could've been a lot worse," the doctor began.

"He's ok?" Victoria said anxiously.

"Well, he's not out of the woods yet," the doctor told her.

"But the surgery went well?" Straub inquired.

The doctor nodded. "Yes. The Thoracoscopy was successful. We inserted a chest tube. He's stable. We won't know anything else until he wakes up."

"Well, when will that be?" Lorelai wondered.

"It could be a couple hours or a couple days," the doctor responded.

"Can we see him?" Francine asked.

"Two visitors at a time for now," the doctor told them.

Straub looked at Francine. "You and Victoria go ahead and then you can two can go home. I'll stay here tonight," Straub volunteered.

Lorelai frowned, not liking the way Straub referred to his house as Victoria's home.

And why did he just assume Victoria would stay with them? Victoria was her daughter.

"I'm not leaving," Victoria said.


End file.
